05 March 2025
Fitness videos are a great way to stay motivated unless you’re blind and have no idea what to do when the instructor says do this or…don’t do this!
Fitness videos and classes are a great way to motivate people who might struggle to stay in shape independently. They might be a great resource but are they accessible to people who are blind? If you’ve ever taken a fitness class or watched a fitness video, what do you typically hear? Perhaps you’ll remember phrases such as:
Make sure you can see the TV (or instructor)
Hold your arm up like this
Make sure you don’t do this
Now do ten of these
Great guidance if you can see but useless if you’re blind.
My wife is a big fan of the phrase, “Move it or lose it”, as you can see in this fitness room post. Great advice and completely aligned with Mel (Mary Ellen) Scott’s philosophy. But there was just one small problem. Mel was diagnosed with RP (retinitis pigmentosa), a blinding retinal disease, at age 7. Here is some additional information on RP. This eye disease eventually stole so much of her sight that she couldn’t see the myriad fitness videos she had ordered over the years.
You always have a choice!
Two choices, right? Complain bitterly, which accomplishes nothing except to perhaps drive your friends away. Mel chose the other path. In her words, “I decided to get off my butt, stop whining about the lack of usable exercise resources, and I created BlindAlive, LLC.” I love her choice to thrive and will assign her Level of V on my Thriving levels. She picks up Level V because she is not only doing everything she did when sighted but she is becoming a successful entrepreneur. She only gets Level VI when she climbs tall mountains or kayaks white water.
As with so many products designed for people with disabilities, perhaps Mel’s videos could be useful for someone who is sighted also. I have less than optimal flexibility; wonder if stretching would help that? Until recent years, most of my workouts were individual but I recently tried some of the Insanity workouts. The instructor would work me into an awkward position then ask me to look at the TV for a sample of the next move. Well…I could either stay in the awkward position or look at the TV – a bit more audio description would have been wonderful!
Interested? You’re just a few clicks away!
Please consider supporting Mel Scott and BlindAlive by buying one of her audio-described fitness routines. Her fitness videos span the gamut from gentle to boot camp with pilates and stability ball along the way. Great present for someone who is losing their sight but not their desire to stay fit! But also a great present for someone who is sighted and might want to support an entrepreneur who is blind.
If you’re visually impaired, it’s like having a personal trainer!
Source: The Blind Guide
#blind #blindness #cardio #fitness #fitnessroutines #fitnessvideobundles