A healthy lifestyle requires both eating properly and having regular exercise. Unfortunately, for many people with disabilities, access to exercise programs and quality nutrition is not always or easily available. The vast majority of gyms are not set up to meet the needs of a person with a disability. Most fitness classes, whether at gyms or online, do not provide the necessary modifications to support a person with a physical or developmental disability. The same can be said about nutrition. With many people with disabilities falling in the lower income bracket, the food they can afford is often the food with the least nutrition. In addition, many people with disabilities are prescribed medications that often have side effects, including weight gain. This often leaves those with disabilities at a higher risk for health complications .Statistically, a person with a disability is 58% more likely to be classified as obese than a person without a disability (Centers for Disease Control). Not only can a sedentary lifestyle lead to physical health problems, it can lead to mental health problems such as depression and lethargy.
Sadly, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the opportunities for exercise and nutrition opportunities have been reduced even further and a new challenge has arisen for the disability community: the lack of meaningful daily activities. Because of health conditions that put them at greater risk of the effects of the virus, many people with disabilities have a new normal and lead a life that involves sheltering in place to quarantine from the Coronavirus. For these people, day programs are often either closed completely or are operating at a much lower capacity in the form of predominantly virtual programs. Jobs or employment programs are either closed or not safe to go to. Going into the community, an activity that prior to the pandemic was looked upon as the ideal way to spend one’s time as a way to promote integration, is now out of the question. The idea of creating meaningful days has gotten much harder as often the go-to activity for the day is now watching television. With limited daily activities available, people with disabilities are more than ever looking for valuable, healthy, fun, and positive activities to fill their days.
Organizations that support people with disabilities are struggling mightily as well during this pandemic. Day programs face the challenge of keeping operations going without being able to have in-person activities. Many day programs have lost large percentages of their participants. Many have had to put up makeshift virtual programming to engage their members, but have struggled with technological challenges and challenges to put quality content together for their virtual participants. Residential programs are struggling as well. Staff of residential homes not only have to keep their residents safe through this terrible pandemic, but also need activities to do with their residents, many of whom will not be allowed to leave their homes for months at a time. Almost a year into the pandemic, and with still, at a minimum, many months of pandemic ahead of them, these organizations need help.
Both people with disabilities and organizations that support people with disabilities need innovative organizations to help them through this challenging time. One such organization is a Maryland-based fitness company called SPIRIT Club. SPIRIT Club is an organization that believes exercise is not only essential to living a happy and healthy life, it is also a human right. Therefore, exercise and fitness should be made accessible to everyone, regardless of their circumstances. SPIRIT Club offers a style of fitness that is created based on the concept of universal design, maintaining that exercise and wellness should be available to ALL. SPIRIT Club works with people with and without disabilities, and its vision is to create an integrated environment where EVERYONE can exercise side by side. SPIRIT Club spreads its fitness philosophy through in-person and virtual group classes and personal training.
During the pandemic SPIRIT Club has adapted its programming to provide virtual fitness and healthy lifestyle classes both to individuals and organizations. SPIRIT Club offers 9 classes per week in the forms of Fitness, Yoga, Zumba, Boxing, Meditation, & Healthy Cooking. At a time when so many people and organizations lack quality content with which to fill their days, SPIRIT Club provides unlimited access to its high-quality and diverse content.
SPIRIT Club’s classes are designed to be as flexible and as accessible as possible so that they can fit the needs of any organization or any person:
· Flexibility: After airing live, SPIRIT Club classes are available on-demand so they can be watched at any time. They are designed without requiring equipment so that they can be taken anywhere, with any sized group. SPIRIT Club has a great assortment of virtual classes so that there is something for everyone, ensuring a variety in daily activities.
· Accessibility: Classes are taught with multiple trainers on screen simultaneously, each leading a different modified form of the same exercise (standing, seated, and advanced). This ensures that at any point, there is a trainer on screen teaching a version of the exercise that is appropriate for anyone. The exercises themselves are explained in simplified 1- or 2-step movements to make them easier to follow for a person with a developmental disability, yet no less valuable in terms of the efficacy of the exercise. Along with physically demonstrating exercises, trainers focus on being as verbally descriptive as possible so that people who are visually impaired or blind can participate. The trainers also integrate certain aspects of American Sign Language into the classes, and give the option for closed captions so that people who are hard of hearing or deaf can participate.
· Certifications: SPIRIT Club Lead Trainers are dual-certified. In addition to being certified personal trainers, they are trained and certified by their state’s developmental disability administration to work with people of all abilities so that they have the proper understanding of how to design classes, how to communicate, and how to motivate so that people with and without disabilities can participate fully.
Since the start of the pandemic, SPIRIT Club has expanded its reach from locally in Maryland to having nearly 100 partnering organizations in over 25 states, supporting 3000+ people with and without disabilities. SPIRIT Club’s classes with their flexibility, accessibility, and high quality, have become a crucial asset for individuals and organizations as they try to safely navigate through what remains of this pandemic.
Written by David Godoy, SPIRIT Club Co-trainer:
“ My name is David Godoy I am a Spirit Club member and employee. Born with a disability has been difficult journey. It has its ups down but it is never impossible to achieve my dreams and goals. With perseverance and determination I continue doing my best, thriving and seizing each moment, especially if that moment is with my Spirit Club family. I am extremely happy to have a life just like everyone else, doing things I love to do and passion about what I do, one of them being a member and employee of SPIRIT Club. The main reason being we are all a family and help each other and support each other. Teamwork unites us all. Now that we are facing a pandemic I continue with the same focus, perseverance, determination, and courage. We are doing things little bit differently but we continue giving our best.