Welcome to Michael Haddad's Channel

Get to know Michael

Assigned by United Nations as UNDP climate change champion in 2016, Michael Haddad is a professional athlete, holder of three world records, motivational speaker, environmental advocate and social entrepreneur.

At the age of six, Michael was subject to a spinal cord injury from a Jet Ski accident, which left him paralyzed from the chest down, or in other

words, 75% of his body is completely paralyzed.Against all odds, and despite the medical impossibility to walk again; Michael managed to overturn the physical incompetency outset into a message of strength through his belief of “turning disability into a distinctive ability” and “changing inefficiency to high performance”

Achievements and Records

In a collective effort to raise awareness on climate change, water pollution and marine life, and reforestation; Michael endured all the obstacles and accomplished three world records in walking, climbing and snowshoeing in Lebanon’s extreme environments.

First Record, 24th of October 2013:
60 000 steps in the mountains of Lebanon to raise awareness
about reforestation ...

Second Record, World Oceans Day 8th of June 2015 :
Michael climbed the Iconic Raouche Rock to raise awareness about Water pollution and Marine Life Threats

Third Record, March 8th, 2015:
Michael snowshoed the Black Summit to raise awareness on Climate Change

Science & Research

The unique performance that Michael conducted led the scientific community to inquire into the reasons behind his ability and identified it as a “game changer” within the spinal cord injury research. Michael is currently collaborating with major scientific institutions in both the

medical and the engineering fields to provide an effective solution for paraplegics to reclaim an independent life without using a manual wheelchair, or a range of driving equipment.

Studying Michael’s technique to walk, Dr. Rechdi Ahdab, professor of neurology and clinical neurophysiology, concluded “Michael has proved to the scientific community that high quality ambulation using minimal nervous resources is possible in paraplegia.” The first project will be centered on studying Michael’s nervous system to define potential prerequisites to adopting his technique. In parallel, the neurologists will test the effect of Neuromodulator techniques on Michael’s performance. The ultimate goal is to make this easily affordable and widely applicable technique available to the largest number of paraplegic patients.

Michael’s ability to endure extreme pain and yet attain a high performance level was also another aspect to study his nervous system, the outcome of this study can lead to creating a facility specialized in training elite athletes to boost their pain tolerance abilities and achieve higher performances.
Furthermore, the core target of Michael’s collaboration with the engineering team is to revolutionize the current exoskeleton. His vision “Accessibility for All and Everywhere” is the main impetus behind the production of a lighter and less-cost exoskeleton.

Environment & Community

Noted as a human rights activist and a “Hero for the environment”, Michael, whether speaking to students, companies, governmental

institutions or being a part in various initiatives, advocates for sustainability, environmental preservation, and reforestation

Through his work as an activist, he believes that “Today true leadership is only reflected by a green mind outset; Earth is sitting in a wheelchair and saving it is not impossible, it can be achieved by our simple daily actions”. In other words, when humans sustain the resources of the Earth through simple daily deeds; it will stand up and walk again. It’s our duty and responsibility to make this happen for the sake of future generations yet to come. Every step that Michael takes, no matter how much difficult that step is, is for spreading this philosophy of unity and sustainability and let it echo all over the globe.

Awards & Recognition

To that end and in appreciation to all of his achievements which sent a message of hope worldwide; he has been highly honored and recommended by the United Nations Development Program in Lebanon, the President of the Lebanese Republic, Army commander in chief, Lebanese Parliamentary Sports and Human Rights Committee.

Moreover, LBCI, one of the major Lebanese and Pan-Arab TV stations, selected Michael as the Personality of the Year 2014, Land Rover featured Michael within its second installment of “My Journey, My Inspiration” film series as one of the most inspirational personalities in the Middle East 2015, and Delta Awards bestowed him the personality of the year trophy after he scored the highest number of fan votes for this title in 2015, in addition to other universities, syndicates and many other national and international entities

UNDP Climate Change Champion -2016-