FlexAble
Making gyms accessible and inclusive for people with intellectual disability. An online resource for gym professionals.
About
What is FlexAble?
FlexAble is a suite of free online resources about disability inclusion, designed to build capacity within community fitness centres and private gyms to support the participation of people with intellectual disability and complex communication needs.
Who is FlexAble for?
FlexAble is for all gym professionals working in private gyms or local government recreation centres, from management to front desk staff, to personal trainers and group fitness instructors.
The course is useful for:
- private gyms and recreational centres seeking disability training for staff
- gym industry staff looking for disability inclusion training for people with intellectual disability
- people working in the fitness industry who are interested in becoming an NDIS personal trainer
What will you learn from FlexAble?
FlexAble presents ways your gym or personal training business can help make recreation accessible and inclusive for people with intellectual disability and complex communication needs.
Through a series of video's, you will learn:
- About the barriers people with intellectual disability may experience when accessing your gym
- Ways to make your gym more accessible and inclusive
- How to communicate with members with intellectual disability or complex communication needs
- How to support a client who may become distressed or have behaviours that might be seen as challenging
- Tips for training members with intellectual disability
FlexAble uses digital handbooks and videos to give background, explanations, and practical, real-life examples on how to make your facilities and personal training sessions more accessible and inclusive. By the end of the course, gym staff will feel more confident supporting members with intellectual disability or complex communication needs.
FlexAble eBook
This eBook is designed to be used alongside the video series, and aims to raise awareness of the issues and barriers people with intellectual disabilities face when joining the gym. It provides information to support gym professionals to build an inclusive gym environment. The resource was developed in collaboration with fitness professionals and people with intellectual disability.
The eBook covers the following topics, supported by a series of 6 online Video Modules.
- Health and Fitness is Good for Everyone
- Making Your Gym Accessible and Inclusive
- Communication Support: Tools and Techniques
- Understanding Challenging Behaviour
- Initial Consultation and Assessment
- Effective Training
- Tips for Training Clients with Intellectual Disability
- Special Considerations
- Gyms and the NDIS
- References and Resources
FlexAble: Video Module Series
The following series of 6 videos are designed to support the information contained in the FlexAble eBook. The videos cover the following topics:
- Why gyms should be accessible to everyone.
- How joining the gym can benefit people with intellectual disability.
- Breaking down barriers to joining the gym.
- Communicating with your client.
- Understanding challenging behaviours.
- Training someone with an intellectual disability.
Module 01
Why gyms should be accessible to everyone.
Module 02
How joining the gym can benefit people with intellectual disability.
Module 03
Breaking down barriers to joining the gym.
Module 04
Communicating with your client.
Module 05
Understanding challenging behaviours.
Module 06
Training someone with an intellectual disability.
Downloadable Resources
My Gym Passport
The My Gym Passport is a downloadable PDF that you can print and include in your orientation package. It is designed to collect important information from the person with intellectual disability, so that staff have quick access to information they can use to support the person's gym experience.
The Passport includes questions such as:
- The way I communicate
- How I show my feelings
- How to best support me
- Things I like and don't like
- My important contacts
You can use the Passport provided, or customise the word template.
My Gym Membership
My Gym Membership is an Easy Read document which outlines all of the important information contained in a gym membership contract. Providing this information in an accessible way, ensures that the person with intellectual disability fully understands all areas of membership at your gym before they sign a contract. The document covers areas such as:
- What a contract is
- The information that you will collect
- Important policies such as what to do when someone is sick
- The terms and conditions of the membership you offer
- How much the membership costs, and how the person will pay
- How to suspend or cancel membership
- The rules and expectations at your gym
You can customise the document to tailor it to your gym. Some tips on how to do this can be accessed below:
Functional Assessments
If the person's goals are around improving functional capacity, then the following simple tests can be completed. These four tests relate to function and together measure:
- Anterior chain strength and stamina
- Posterior chain strength and power
- Pulling strength and power
- Pressing strength and power
- Abdominal strength
- Balance
- Coordination
- Power
- Agility
- Mobility
- A broad range of energy systems, both anaerobic and aerobic
These tests can provide a good baseline of function, help guide exercise session plans, and provide evidence of improvements when re-testing.
Easy Read Resources
Here you can also find easy to read documents that will help your client navigate the gym in our Sport and Having Fun resources.
Visual Supports
Whether a person uses speech or not, visual supports can help because they:
- Help the person to focus on the key message/information
- Make abstract ideas more concrete
- Help the person express their thoughts
- Don’t disappear the way words do
- Attract and hold attention
- Reduce anxiety
Below is a link to download an aided language display that is gym specific. It is called an aided language display because it is an aid that can help make language more accessible. For more information about using visual supports, you can download the Ebook and watch the video modules. You can also find more information about communication on the DDWA website.
A Visual Activity Schedule can be made easily using Word and copyright free images. It is a visual map of the exercises or activities customised for each client, and can be used to show the person which exercises to do, and how many sets they could complete, or how long to do each exercise. Here is an example that you can use to create your own customised schedules. Or, with the client's permission, you may like to create a personalised visual story using photographs of the person doing each activity.
The project team
- Mitchell Coles – Personal Trainer, Fitness Cert III, IV with experience training people with intellectual disability
- Kathryn Hayles – BSc Occupational Therapy, Fitness Cert III, IV
- Hannah Pocock – TV Series Producer
- Dan Williams - Exercise Physiologist, Range of Motion
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the following people for their participation in and support of the project:
- Tash Gacia - Community Engagement Co-ordinator, Loftus Recreation Centre
- James Hales - Team Leader Fitness Leisure Services, Riverton and Cannington Leisureplex
- Eva Nagel - Fitness Instructor, Bayswater Waves Gym
- Lauren Marchbank
- Michelle Silver
- Justin Storen
- Jessica Toster
- Joshua Goh
- Allara May
- Steven Donovan
FlexAble was made possible through an ILC Grant, funded by the Department of Social Services.