Maddy Moore and Alexis Scalise

Exercise for Special Populations

Visual Impairment Lab (10 pts)

Part 1:
 Break into pairs and blindfold 1 partner. The visually impaired client should pretend that they are
not familiar with the facility or the exercises.

 Lead your blind client throughout Boyle

1. Please include walking up stairs
2. Navigating through hallway
3. Perform the following:
 Start your client exercising on the bike, treadmill or stepper
 Perform the sit & reach test
 Instruct & complete some abdominal crunches
 Instruct & complete upper body dumbbell exercise

 Put earplugs on the other partner and repeat step 3.

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Questions:

1. How did it feel to be blind? What specifically did your leader do or not do that decreased/increased
your anxiety?

When we were blind, we felt disoriented, anxious, and confused.

Decrease anxiety: Knocking/tapping on objects in the way, directed hand to railings, reporting how
far an obstacle was in front of them, counting the number of stairs

Increase anxiety: touching/moving them without reporting why, reporting objects in the room that
may not be in the way

2. As a blind client, what concerns/reservations might you have with regards to exercise?

Higher speeds on a treadmill, trusting the trainer to tell you the proper form, not completely
knowing the surroundings, more concerned for injury for yourself and those around you, not
knowing where to grip on exercise equipment, how far away from the front/back of the treadmill
when walking

3. As the seeing Exercise Professional, what techniques did you use to lead your blind client? What
worked best……what didn’t work? How could you improve your leading abilities?

Tapping/knocking (sound source for direction orientation), guiding through touch (ask permission),
orienting to the facility, we moved the desks around to clear the clutter in the way

Worked best: guiding hands to railings, counting out steps/stairs

Didn’t work: vague instructions (“walk straight”), touching without a reported purpose
4. As the seeing Exercise Professional, how hard was it to get the client to complete the different
exercises? How did you have to modify your “normal” instruction? What potential problems/barriers
could occur with working with a visually impaired client?

For the treadmill, it was hard to communicate the change in speeds and trying to keep them
walking in the middle of the treadmill, not too close to the back or front.

Hard to instruct form if they are not able to see an example.

Normal instruction had to be modified to make it more specific, use associations that they would
recognize to explain how to do the exercise, go through trial runs and make changes to form, ask
permission to touch them to correct form.

5. List 2 considerations & modifications for the visually impaired client & 2 for the hearing impaired.

Visually Impaired:
Considerations – keep areas cleared of clutter / give regular tactile and verbal
cues/feedback, use good lighting, keep the room set up the same each time

Modifications – having side bars on the treadmill set up, using equipment that is texturized
to help them know where to grip the equipment
Specific for sit and reach – starting the metal bar at the front so that it is easier for
them to orient how far they are actually pushing it back.

Hearing Impaired:

Considerations – use facial expressions/exaggerated pronunciations to allow for the client to

perhaps follow by reading lips, body language, gestures, and common signs / give regular
tactile and verbal cues/feedback, learning basic sign language terms to use for your client

Modifications – using more physical demonstrations and showing proper form, use signs or
written out instructions, use closed captioning if watching a demonstration