An instructor who has an impairment can be a real asset – not despite, but because of, their experience of disability and their ability to reach out to others
To accommodate disabled employees,
the staff room is fully accessible and some do work shorter days – but mostly, few allowances need to be made. On the fl ip side, there are enormous benefi ts to employing disabled fi tness instructors, not least in reassuring disabled customers that their needs will be understood and catered for. Disabled fi tness instructors also
give a more human face to the gym environment, making it less intimidating not only for disabled users but also for older and deconditioned populations (more than half of ANTC’s registered users are aged over 50). “Our disabled instructors have life experience. They can turn people around,” says Bladon.
“They can say, ‘I’ve been through this and look where I am now. You don’t think you can do it, but you can’.”
Industry education But if ANTC is at the forefront of the drive to make fitness and fitness careers more accessible to disabled people, it’s clear the rest of the industry is still lagging behind. For starters, the percentage of disabled
members in fi tness facilities remains disproportionately low (17 per cent of the general population has a disability). Further to this, Aspire has identifi ed active discrimination against disabled
June 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
Aspire has identified active discrimination against disabled people seeking jobs in fitness
people seeking work in the fi tness industry. According to research published by the charity in 2011, a wheelchair user is twice as likely to receive an outright rejection when applying for a job in the fi tness profession, all other factors being equal. Meanwhile, a non- wheelchair user is nearly four times as likely to be invited for an interview. One way that Aspire is working to
redress this imbalance is through its involvement with Quest, Sport England’s national quality scheme for sport and leisure. ANTC has been Quest- accredited since 2012 (it currently has an ‘excellent’ rating) and, through regular involvement with the scheme’s annual conference and other events, the charity is able to raise awareness among fellow operators and provide a benchmark against which they can measure their own efforts to cater for disabled users. “Quest enables us to share the inclusive nature of our facility with other general managers and to broaden their horizons as to how they can further promote activity to disabled people,” explains Bladon. But most crucial of all to Aspire’s drive to educate the wider industry is
its Sport England-funded InstructAbility scheme. Set up and managed by Aspire in partnership with training provider YMCAfi t, the initiative offers free training to unemployed disabled people with a view to helping them gain qualifi cations, experience and eventually employment as fi tness instructors. Created in 2010 but just now
gathering momentum, the programme includes an 18-day training course for up to 12 students, delivered over seven weeks and leading to a CYQ Level 2 Certifi cate in Gym Instructing as well as a CYQ Level 3 disability and exercise qualifi cation. This is followed by a 12- week work placement within a leisure centre or private health club. While YMCAfi t delivers the fi tness
training in Inclusive Fitness Initiative (IFI)-accredited venues, Aspire provides each student with a mentor to support them through the process; delivers community outreach training aimed at providing students with the knowledge, skills and resources to engage disabled people in the local community; and works with other industry operators to set up and facilitate work placements. Made possible by an £850,000 grant
from Sport England’s Places People Play initiative, the fi rst InstructAbility courses were held in London but have since been offered across southern,
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 45
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