包容性健身房让残疾人拥有健身精神

Inclusive Gym Gets People With Disabilities in Fitness Spirit 包容性健身房让残疾人拥有健身精神

Teamwork is an integral part of the health and fitness program at Spirit Club, a gym in suburban¹ Washington where most of the participants have autism, Down syndrome² or other developmental disabilities.

“Our main focus is the same thing as any other gym, which is to help people be active and healthy," said Jared Ciner, who created the club in Kensington, Maryland, two years ago. "The difference is that we do modify a little bit to make sure that it is right pace for the people we are working with, so that everybody can follow along.”

Ciner used to work as a support counselor³ for a local nonprofit dedicated⁴ to helping⁵ people with disabilities and as a part-time personal trainer at gyms.

“I noticed that the people who I was working with who had disabilities, many of them were very sedentary, did not exercise, struggled with weight issues, and were looking for more physical outlets⁶ and more social outlets,” he said.

His volunteer experience in Ethiopia working with children from severely⁷ impoverished⁸ families helped him understand the impact of structured physical programming, too.

That experience "helped me realize how much organized physical activity can help people become more socially involved and connected to each other and increase people’s mood and self-esteem,” Ciner said.

Classes at Spirit Club are interactive⁹, and students can come with caregivers. They participate in partnered workouts and learn balance, flexibility¹⁰, strength, speed and agility¹¹. They are also encouraged to eat right.

Alan Bradshaw, who is mentally disabled, has been coming to classes for two years. “He recently lost 21 pounds," said his mother, Jill Bradshaw. "He is more outgoing. He is more flexible. When he first started, he couldn’t sit on the floor, get down on the floor.  He is doing that now.”

Valerie Rigaux, another regular visitor to the club, has developmental delays. "I like the gym because I can make friends easily and exercise at the same time,” she said.

Even two of Ciner’s assistant trainers have disabilities.

A "really important part of what we are doing is making sure that these opportunities are available to all people, regardless their physical ability, mental ability, also their financial situation," he said.

Ciner is now working on fundraising to increase scholarship opportunities.

1 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

2 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

3 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

8 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

10 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

11 agility   

n.敏捷，活泼

参考例句：

• The boy came upstairs with agility.那男孩敏捷地走上楼来。
• His intellect and mental agility have never been in doubt.他的才智和机敏从未受到怀疑。