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Accessible Fitness, more choices for more people

Fitness has always been a concern with regard to both mental and physical health regardless of age, gender, or any other variables that make each one of us unique. And for those in the blind community, fitness is every bit as much—if not more—important.

Exercise for the visually impaired is something that should be incorporated into a weekly, if not daily, routine for a variety of reasons that are both similar and different from people within the sighted community. For those with total loss of sight as well as for those who are low sighted, a lack of regular exercise can bring on a host of other issues, including weight gain, sluggishness, and perhaps worst of all for many, insomnia or a circadian rhythm that has been thrown completely off track.

A quality workout done at the right time of day and at the right pace to meet your unique physical and mental needs is just what the doctor may have forgotten to order. For many blind people, fitness has been a challenge: without someone to guide you and without the ability to drive yourself to the gym, it becomes obvious why so many visually impaired individuals give up—but with the BlindAlive line of Fitness Workouts for blind people, you’ll never have to depend on anyone else again.

Yoga and Strength Training with wieghts for blind people along with a variety of other cardiovascular exercises help our bodies stay toned, help us gain muscle mass and lose weight, but most of all, can help lead a blind person away from a sense of helplessness.

Are you ready to sweat? Come get healthy and leave all your notions of not being able to get fit due to your visual impairment behind with BlindAlive!

Body Composition Analysis

March 11, 2018  /  Lisa Salinger

Have you ever wished you could provide feedback for a product under development? If you are attending CSUN this year, you will have just such an opportunity.

HIMS, now SELVAS Healthcare, has developed an accessible body composition analyzer with TtS, and the ability to emboss the result sheet in braille.

The product is currently not for sale, and is meant mostly for hospitals and fitness centers, but SELVAS Healthcare would like feedback from people who have a genuine interest in the product.

In preparation for this post, I corresponded via email with Jenny Axler, who explains the product better than I could:

“Body Composition Analysis allows a person to evaluate one’s health in terms of the amounts of various substances found in the body, including fats, muscle mass, proteins and water by running a low level electrical current through the body. Analysis of these levels can determine the general health of a person, and provide early indicators of possible issues, such as diabetes, heart disease, etc.

“At cSUN, we will be showing an accessible version of our standard Body composition Analyzer, with a Braille keypad instead of the touch screen, and full access via voice prompts. The result sheet can then be embossed in Braille for the user to take with them.

“It does require you to take off your shoes and socks, and stand directly on the device platform. There are smooth surfaces where the foot electrodes are placed.”

Then, there are two cylindrical hand electrodes you hold. They remind me of bicycle handle bars that have been removed from the bicycle.

“Although we talk about electrodes, there are no wires, no shocks, nothing like that. Most people don’t even feel it at all. Still, pregnant women shouldn’t use this device, nor should people with pace makers, etc. It does run a low level electric current through your body.

“Before it measures anything, you are asked to enter some basic information, height, gender, etc.

“As far as what it announces, it guides you through the entry process, all done via a number pad, it weighs you, then asks you to get in to position and hold the hand electrodes, then it measures the body composition.

“then, when finished, it gives you the option to read the results aloud or not. So, if someone does not wish for the world to know, they don’t have to have them announced.

“For example, it says something like “Press 1 to read the results aloud, press 2 to exit, press the print button to print the result sheet.

“The result sheet shows all text, rather than the usual graphics of the printed result sheet..”

To learn more, please visit SELVAS Healthcare in Booth 705 during CSUN. Also, they plan to include additional information on their website in the near future.

 

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