Under Islamabad’s punishing summer sun, Hamza Ali checks an order on his phone, collects a meal and joins the delivery riders moving through the capital. The insulated box behind him carries somebody’s lunch. The motorcycle beneath him represents something greater: the independent life he worked relentlessly to reclaim. Ali lost both legs five years ago, but today he travels across Islamabad on a motorcycle fitted with hand-operated controls, earning his own living and building a future on his own terms.
Ali had worked as a Foodpanda rider before the accident. He was travelling by bus from Lahore towards his hometown of Multan when it collided with a truck on a motorway. Losing both legs changed nearly every aspect of his life, but it did not take away his experience, determination or ability to work. Employers did not always recognise that. “Whoever I approached for a job would say, ‘You are disabled, what can you do?’” he recalled in an interview with Arab News. Even jobs that could be performed while sitting remained unavailable. Ali continued searching for nearly three years.
His eventual response to rejection was bold and practical. A friend suggested that Islamabad’s wider roads might make riding a modified motorcycle easier. In 2023, Ali travelled alone to a city he had never visited to see whether the idea could work. He then invested his limited savings in adapting his motorcycle and moved permanently. The beginning was difficult. Ali arrived without accommodation or a support network and spent one of his first nights on the streets until around 1 a.m. He later rented a bed near Rawalpindi railway station for Rs300 a night, used washrooms at metro stations and eventually secured a place in a hostel. Every step brought him closer to the working life he wanted.
Ali still had a Foodpanda rider profile from before the accident, so he visited the company’s support centre in Islamabad’s F-8 sector and asked for it to be reactivated. Staff asked whether he was confident he could do the job. He said yes, and then proved it. Ali now delivers meals independently across Islamabad and has become one of the platform’s top-performing riders, according to colleagues quoted by the Associated Press. He recently received a mobile phone after ranking among the company’s leading riders. Rather than keep it for himself, he saved it as an Eid gift for his mother, whom he credits with giving him strength after the accident.
The AP photographs capture the scale of what Ali has accomplished. They show him navigating traffic, collecting orders, communicating with customers and negotiating stairs after deliveries. They also show his roommates helping him with a gate, Ali spending time with his cousin and attending a computer-training class. His independence does not require him to pretend that he never needs assistance. It comes from directing his own life, supporting himself and continuing to develop new skills. His success is not defined only by what he overcame, but by the disciplined, purposeful life he has created.
Ali’s achievement is especially significant in a country where many people with disabilities remain excluded from work. Pakistan’s 2023 census recorded 7,448,574 people with disabilities and more than 23 million people experiencing a functional limitation. A 2026 National Commission for Human Rights review reported an unemployment rate of about 14.5 percent among people with disabilities, more than twice the rate among those without disabilities. Employment quotas remain unevenly enforced, while inaccessible transport, workplaces and education continue to limit opportunity. The ICT Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2020 prohibits employment discrimination and requires reasonable accommodation, but Ali’s experience shows how much determination can still be required to turn legal rights into everyday reality.
Ali does not want pity. “I can earn a living on my own,” he has said, and his record supports that confidence. He adapted his motorcycle, moved to an unfamiliar city, secured accommodation, returned to his profession and rose to become one of its leading riders. Those accomplishments deserve celebration, but also respect. His story should encourage employers to recognise talent, platforms to support adaptive equipment, buildings to become accessible and governments to enforce existing protections. Most importantly, it should allow Hamza Ali to be seen as he sees himself: a capable worker, a devoted son and a man moving forward with dignity.
