This research was conducted and funded in
collaboration with Kaiser Permanente Northern
California, the National Institute on Disability
Rehabilitation and Research (Department of
Education) and the World Institute on Disability in
Berkeley, California.
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“Hard Bodies”
Sport, Dance & Movement
and the
Charged Concept of Fitness for
Disabled People
 “Fitness? My body is hard enough to live in without
having to make it fit into someone’s fitness regimen.”
Another member of the group quipped, “We all have
hard bodies!”
We laughed at the irony of our “hard bodies,” which is
a popular vernacular term to describe our culture’s
ideal of a buff, abled physique.
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Confronting the relative inactivity of
the disability community
 According to many studies some dating back to
the 80’s, people with disabilities are much less
likely to engage in a physically active life.
 Greater risk for secondary health conditions
 We recognize that “sedentary lives” lead to
disabling conditions
 Do “disabling conditions” lead to sedentary lives?
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Our Participant Population
 67 male and female San Francisco Bay Area
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residents with disabilities, ages 19 to 78
38% people of color
Disabled students, and disabled and nondisabled teachers of fitness classes
41% self-described themselves as athletes
and dancers with disabilities
59% were not currently or previously
engaged in any fitness activity
5% non-disabled physicians with experience
related to athletics and fitness for people
with disabilities
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Participant Population
Disability Spectrum:
 Mobility impairments, including spinal cord
injury, spina bifida, spinal muscular atrophy,
hemiplegia from stroke, and osteogenesis
imperfecta
 Visual impairments
 Hearing impairments
 Chronic illness including rheumatoid
arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and post-polio
syndrome
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The Overarching Question
Are the barriers for disabled people a
version of exercise resistance that is
experienced in our sedentary society
by many in the general public, but
exacerbated primarily by the inherent
limitations of impairment?
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Specific Questions
 What are the factors that intervene between a
disabled person and a workable, enjoyable fitness
regimen?
 What are barriers and facilitators for inclusion in
sport, fitness, dance, and active recreation for
people with disabilities?
 What is revealed in exploring and comparing the
social and emotional experience of people with
disabilities who regularly engage in physical
activities, versus those who do not?
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Using a Disability Studies Analytic
Perspective and tools
 Disability exclusion and inclusion, access and
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accommodation
Medical/social model distinction
Language of disability: terms and concepts including
“fitness,” “able-bodied,” “physically challenged,” and
“super-crip”
Internalized oppression: the psycho-social impact of
societal attitudes and barriers upon individuals
Intersectionality: looking at the mix of
cultural/personal standpoints and identities, including
“the whole person” beyond disability, and how these
influence both access and participation
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Our Findings
Barriers: Social Exclusion Resulting
from Social Attitudes
 Hollywood bodies: cultural ideals oppress
everyone, but especially disabled bodies
 “Fitness advice doesn’t fit us”
 Vast array of advice, promotions, “tips,” and
media attention virtually exclude and/or ignore
non-typical bodies
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Our Findings
Barrier: Structural Obstacles
 Fitness industry exclusion: architectural and
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programmatic (e.g., inaccessible equipment and
activities)
Beginnings of ADA compliance emerging with
structural access, yet programmatic access
greatly lags behind
Instructors not trained or comfortable with
disability
Transportation to public resources are limited
Financial limits due to low income of this
population
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Our Findings
Barrier: Internalized Oppression
 Resentment expressed about “super-crips” and
Paralympic athletes, not only not “inspired by them”
but rather an attitude of disdain
 “Fitness isn’t cool in the Independent Living
community”
 “Fitness is for disabled people who are still trying to
get cured”
We asked: Is this sour grapes? “You can’t fire me, I
quit!” ?
Why aren’t disabled athletes and dancers a “motivating
resource” for disabled non-athletes?
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Our Findings
Barrier: Internalized Oppression (beliefs,
self-concept, and self-esteem that result
from exclusion)
 Feeling stared at, humiliated, awkward, “not
cool,” “ridiculous,” “hideous,” “a public
spectacle”
 Low confidence that “I could do it”
 Expectation of patronizing, confused, even
hostile instructors (not necessarily unrealistic
fear)
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Our Findings, cont.
 Fear for safety/ injury/pain — highly
charged for this population
 “It should be free.” Unable to budget or
plan for fitness resources or activities
 Resistance to the message of “It’s good for
you,” which is too close to medical model
messages over lifetimes of false promises
and dashed hopes for “cure”
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Our Findings and analysis
Internalized Oppression, continued
 Barriers to fitness closely resemble those to
employment, education, transportation,
health care, community access, etc.
 Resonate with rejection from intimate,
interpersonal relationships: You can’t
participate because “your body is wrong.”
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The paradox of hope
 New hope emerging for inclusion in disability
community fitness resources give birth to
unattainable wishes and expectations that fitness
resources must be easy and convenient to access:
schedule, transportation, class fees, request for
“instructors with the same disability as mine.” As
if individuals cannot tolerate anymore barriers; it
must be a perfect match to needs, to take the risk.
 Thus, hope became another barrier.
 We called this “deep discouragement”
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Our Findings
Barrier: Medical System Not Yet Onboard
 People with mobility impairments have highest rates
of secondary conditions: heart disease, joint
problems, diabetes, obesity, due to relative inactivity
 Numerous studies demonstrate the health benefits of
movement for our diverse population of disabled
people of all ages, children, working-age adults, and
seniors
 A medical necessity: those with significant mobility
impairments need organized and assisted fitness
resources even more than people without mobility
impairments who enjoy wait-bearing in their day
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Our Findings
Barrier: Our Medical System Lags Behind in
Encouraging People with Disabilities
 “The training for most physicians does not
allocate time to discuss patients with physical or
mental impairments. There is also not a good
emphasis on the importance of fitness in our
society in general. I have colleagues in Europe
and countries around the world; their emphasis is
much more on prevention, to promote wellness
programs and fitness programs. Unfortunately in
the US we lag behind that.”
Dr. Cindy Chang, University of California, Berkeley staff
physician and Paralympic team physician
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Limits of Medical Support
 Rehabilitation and physical therapy:
 arenas for physical activities, but limited in
duration and scope
 not about fun, social connection or long term
health and fitness, but rather “therapeutic.”
 Physicians tend . . .
 not to educate parents of disabled children
about physical activity
 to use belittling comments:“Well, he’ll never
play sports.” The delivery room physician’s
remark about a baby born with a cleft foot.
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Facilitators and Motivators
What can we do?
 Findings from interviews with disabled
athletes and dancers:
 “Somehow doors got opened”
 Family, friends, disabled peers offering
encouragement and opportunities
 For those with acquired impairments, may
have already been active, so returned to
sport or dance
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Facilitators and Motivators
 Disabled athletes & dancers found: enjoyment of
movement, body awareness, fun, self-expression
 Sense of community with other athletes, sense of
independence and self-determination, enjoyed
team sports
 Increased health indicators: lowered blood
pressure, joint flexibility, better sleep, ease in
general mobility and transferring, weight
management, sense of bodily integrity and
physical comfort
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What Helps Disabled People
Overcome Resistance to Movement
and Physical Activity?
 Peer support, peer pressure, trying activities with
friends, in pairs and small groups, college credit
for fitness classes, desire for better body image,
desire for weight loss, class fee scholarships,
work-release time to exercise.
 Messaging in outreach cogent to target population
re age, ethnicity, cultural and colloquial language
 Collaboration and multiple outreach gestures
between agencies, affinity groups, media sources
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Biggest Successes
Bringing fitness activities to existing affinity groups, and
marginalized constituencies, through collaborations:
 “Doing It For Ourselves,” disabled and large-bodied lesbian and bisexual women, ERC movement class
 Developmentally disabled mothers, Through the Looking Glass,
dance and movement class
 East Bay Innovations, Community and Support Living for people
with disabilities, dance and movement class
 Disabled veterans at the San Francisco Veterans Services yoga
class
 Spinal Cord Injury support group at ERC movement and nutrition
focus
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Listening and sharing
The key elements within the peer groups seem to be:
 Opportunity to speak out about the exclusion
 Share fears and embarrassment
 Gain support to try
 Feel “safe,” and understood, not judged
 Being listened to by peers about all the above
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Get Fit! Get Moving!
 Join us for our Second Annual Fitness
Fair at the Ed Roberts Campus!
 June 7, 2014, 10 am to 2pm
 Open to people of all ages and abilities
 Hosted by WID, BORP & AXIS Dance
Company
 Free and open to the public
 Learn more and register online:
www.tinyurl.com/GetFit14
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Get Fit! Get Moving!
 “Learn about fun options to start or
increase your healthy lifestyle from
teachers and leaders in adaptive fitness and
recreation.”
 A dozen Bay Area community recreation
programs will display and demonstrate
their disability-friendly activities and
demonstrate how to get moving!
 Adaptive Yoga, Tai chi, Physically Integrated
Dance
 Adaptive golf, horseback riding, boating, etc
 Adaptive Bicycle Demonstrations by BORP
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Get Fit, Get Moving, cont.
 Info on accessible team sports, recreation,
adventures and more!
 Healthy refreshments served!
 Bring your whole family! (Activities for
kids, teens, young adults, seniors,)
 Outreach via fliers, social media, local
news, radio, agency visits, word of mouth.
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