Man creates gym project for disabled people

Ben worked as a volunteer at a local gym since he was 17 years old. That’s when he realised that it was hard for disabled people to get involved in physical activity. This led him to create a scheme to improve the accessibility of equipment and classes for disabled people.

Later on, the inventor became a qualified fitness instructor and present his idea to the NHS. With this, he was able to get funding.

“Empower supports disabled people to lead more active lifestyles, that is active in every sense of the word from walking to gardening groups to intensive workouts. From my learning, probably the most important aspect of the project is working with the people around the person; carers, support staff, family and friends so that through practical based awareness sessions, they are able to deliver the support that I offer the long term. There is a lot of segregated opportunities for disabled people to keep active, there are blind football classes and disability swims, but there’s nothing mainstream integrating disabled people and none disabled people to stay active together, which is what I'm an advocate for, I don’t agree with segregation”, Ben explained.

Empower offers the person one-to-one training sessions twice a week, lasting one hour, for up to three months.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2nmYTA4