Gwinnett County, Georgia
04/18/2007
By Tom Breen
The Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. Three times a week, Vince Stankoski is lifted from
his wheelchair onto a stationary bicycle. Electrodes are attached to
three of his muscle groups, coaxing his paralyzed legs to pedal.
It is the highlight of his workout.
I like that I can look down at my legs and still see muscles there,
says the Allentown, Pa., man who lost the use of his legs after falling
from a tree in 1998.
Apart from the bike, he also likes using the upper body weights, which
come equipped with a seat that swivels away so he can move his
wheelchair into position and lift.
Stankoski is one of the fortunate ones. He belongs to a gym
specifically designed to accommodate people with disabilities.
Few other disabled people have that option. The basics of good health
diet and exercise often present challenges for people with
disabilities, a situation made more difficult by a common assumption
that disability and poor health go hand in hand.
The result, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, is that people with disabilities roughly 19 percent of
all Americans are far less healthy than the average American. Since
those with disabilities are the biggest users of medical services, that
disparity could be costing hundreds of millions of tax dollars a year.
Those costs are likely to increase as the baby boomer generation grows
older and more susceptible to disabilities.
Theres an enormous number of barriers that people with disabilities
face when they try to become healthy, says Dr. James Rimmer, director
of the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability, and a
professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Those barriers range from health clubs that view people with
disabilities as potential liabilities to public health campaigns that
bypass them entirely.
Theres a mind-set that people with disabilities are also ill and
they shouldnt be exercising, says Jerry McCole, who heads the
National Disability Sports Alliance. The group promotes athletic
competition and physical activity among people with cerebral palsy,
traumatic brain injury, stroke and other physically disabling
conditions.
Its like any minority group out of sight, out of mind, McCole
says.
But people with disabilities are increasingly hard to overlook. In a
first-of-its-kind study released last fall, the CDC found that those
with disabilities were more than four times more likely to be in fair
or poor health than those who are not disabled. Those with disabilities
were also more likely to smoke and to be obese and physically inactive.
In West Virginia, the numbers are even worse.
Deborrah Pittman, head of the computer science department at Bluefield
State College in West Virginia, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
in 1997 and sometimes uses a wheelchair. She lives in a state where one
in four adults is disabled, the highest rate in the country.
Pittman says shes lucky that a gym in Bluefield, near the Virginia
border, has one or two pieces of equipment she can use to get an upper
body workout.
Part of the problem, according to experts, is the common assumption
that people with disabilities are simply unable to take on physical
tasks.
People with disabilities can be healthy, and people without
disabilities can be unhealthy, says John Crews, a lead scientist for
the CDCs Disability and Health Team. But the perception persists, even
in public health, that the opposite is true.
Public health has a kind of uncomfortable relationship with
disability. People with disabilities tend to be viewed by people in
public health as a failure of primary prevention, Crews said.
Thats starting to change. In January, Rimmer and a group of doctors
and advocates launched the Inclusive Fitness Coalition to urge private
health clubs and gyms to make universal accessibility part of their
basic service.
At places such as Optimal Fitness, where Stankoski works out, thats
already happening. Optimal Fitness is part of Good Shepherd, an acute
care rehabilitation hospital. The fitness center is open to hospital
patients and employees, but also to anyone with a qualifying disability.
Theres no nearby exercise alternative for people like Stankoski. The
next nearest place is 60 miles away in Philadelphia.
Things changed really fast for me, Stankoski says, recalling the
accident that paralyzed him. But rehabilitation and regular fitness
have helped him to stay trim and muscular.
Since I started here, everythings been going good, he says.
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