OLD-SCHOOL WHEELING- FITNESS CLUBS SHOULD CONSIDER THE DISABLED

I wrote this article for The Phoenix on June 8, 2007....

Fitness Clubs Should Consider the Disabled Vince Stankoski, from Allentown, works out three times a week

. Vince lost the use of his legs in 1998 after falling from a tree, leaving him paralyzed. Electrodes are attached to three of his muscle groups, coaxing his legs to pedal on a stationary bike. He also uses upper body weights to keep himself in shape.

. Vince is one of the fortunate ones. He belongs to a gym specifically designed to accommodate people with disabilities.

 Few other disabled people have that option. The basics of a good health diet and exercise often present challenges for people with disabilities, a situation made more difficult by a common assumption that disability and poor health go hand in hand

 The result is that people with disabilities (roughly 19% of all Americans) are far less healthy than the average American.

 There’s an enormous number of barriers that people with disabilities face when they try to become healthy. Those barriers range from health clubs that view people with disabilities as potential liabilities to public health campaigns that bypass them entirely.

 “There’s a mind-set that people with disabilities are also ill and they shouldn’t be exercising,” says Jerry McCole, who heads the National Disability Sports Alliance. The group promotes athletic competition and physical activity among people with various physically disabling conditions.

 “It’s like any minority group - out of sight, out of mind,” he says.

 But people with disabilities are increasingly hard to overlook. Studies show that those with disabilities are more than four times more likely to be in fair or poor health than those who are not disabled. Those with disabilities are also more likely to smoke and to be obese and physically inactive

. Interestingly enough, West Virginia, where one in four adults is disabled, has the highest rate of disabled individuals who are also in poor health.

 Part of the problem, according to experts, is the common assumption that people with disabilities are simply unable to take on physical tasks

. People with disabilities can be healthy, and people without disabilities can be unhealthy. It’s as simple as that, but the perception persists, even in public health, that the opposite is true

. Public health has a kind of uncomfortable relationship with disability. People with disabilities tend to be viewed by people in public health as a failure of primary prevention, so says a scientist for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 But that’s starting to change. In January, a group of doctors and advocates launched the Inclusive Fitness Coalition to urge private health clubs and gyms to make universal accessibility part of their basic service

. Optimal Fitness, where Vince works out, is part of Good Shepherd, an acute care rehabilitation hospital. The fitness center is open to hospital patients and employees, but also to anyone with a qualifying disability.

 Here’s hoping that more fitness clubs consider the disabled in their programs. And here’s also hoping that disabled individuals will take advantage of such accessibility, and become healthier in the long run.