.png)
This is episode 08 and today I talk with Brendan Aylward who is working hard to make the fitness industry more inclusive for people with disability in the United States and beyond.
This is episode 08 and today I talk with Brendan Aylward who is working hard to make the fitness industry more inclusive for people with disability in the United States and beyond.
Brendan Aylward is the owner of Unified Health and Performance, President of AdaptX, and Director of The Rick Hoyt Research Lab. His work revolves around making the fitness industry more accessible for individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities.
In today's chat, we discuss how Brendan found his way into this work as well as how he engages clients and adapts his programs and the gym environment. We also learn about some of the amazing work he is doing to educate gym instructors and owners to create inclusive gym environments for people of all abilities.
00:00 Introduction
02:13 Brendan's Backstory
06:29 About Unified Health and Performance
09:05 The need for adaptive equipment in the gym
11:28 People with and without disability in the gym
15:37 Engaging clients
21:22 Networks and partnerships
23:04 Adapting training sessions
29:03 Retaining clients
31:58 How clients are funded
34:27 Accessibility in the gym
39:19 About AdaptX
46:46 Quickfire questions
50:28 Brendan top inclusion tip
52:27 How to connect with Brendan
53:22 Conclusion
Join the ISD Mailing list at https://isd.ck.page/tips
Join the ISD Community Group on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/InclusiveSportDesign
Visit the ISD Community Hub
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IncSportDesign
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/incsportdesign
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/12952451
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCECVtQQFNjuGxE35K_e06Eg
Below is a list of resources related to today's episode plus some of the tools we use. If you think these tools can help you too, please check them out. If you make a purchase via the links below ISD earns a small commission or other benefit. This supports ISD to keep helping inclusion happen in sport.
Special Olympics Unified Sports : https://www.specialolympics.org/what-we-do/sports/unified-sports
Descript: We use Descript to edit this podcast (and other media content) including generating transcripts, adding captions to ensure accessibility and to generally make it look and sound awesome for you. Check out Descript for yourself here.
UserWay: We use UserWay to ensure our web and digital assets are accessible for everyone. (You can see it in action on the ISD website). Check out UserWay for yourself here.
ConvertKit: We use convertKit to email the ISD community including sending out our weekly inclusion tips. Check out ConvertKit here.
In this episode I talk with Ryan Redondo to hear about how he has been bringing tennis to diverse communities in San Diego, in the USA.
In this episode I talk with Ryan Redondo to hear about how he has been bringing tennis to diverse communities in San Diego, in the USA.
This is episode 08 and today I talk with Brendan Aylward who is working hard to make the fitness industry more inclusive for people with disability in the United States and beyond.
This is episode 07 and today I talk with Ryan Storr to discover how he has been influencing inclusion in sport through research and practice in Australia.
In this episode I talk with Emily Ayles to discover how she goes about connecting people with disability to sport through her work at Novita.