PT faces total loss of sight
A fitness trainer who is losing his sight is using that factor as an opportunity to pursue the career he loves.
Nick Jones from Chippenham, Wiltshire, has been diagnosed with a condition which means he will lose his sight completely. Nick Jones has stargardt disease and is losing his sight. He struggled through university without realising how serious the problem was. Jones told the BBC, “I thought I would just grab a cheap pair of glasses from vision express.” He was told he either had eye cancer or he was going to lose his sight completely. After having found out this news, Nick quit his job and trained as a fitness instructor and built his own gym. Commenting on his new career path, Jones told the BBC, “Fitness is really amazing no matter what I’ve gone through in life; the gym has always been the same for me.”
One fitpro who understands the effects of sight loss and shares Nick’s passion for working in the fitness industry is Michelle Felix.
For more information on working with visually impaired clients, click HERE
Michelle Felix realised the lack of support for visually impaired people in the fitness industry and set up the Michelle Felix Group to help engage visually impaired people in the fitness industry. Felix got in touch with FitPro to share her reaction to Nick’s story.
“I love Nick’s spirit to simply make it happen with building his gym, says Felix. I also have an appreciation of making the most of residual sight at different stages of sight loss. Having sight loss has highlighted the need for accessible gym equipment and Exercise to Music classes. As a fitness professional, I continue to make fitness accessible to people with sight loss and seek out ways of improving accessibility for people with a range of needs through discussion, research and exercise class design.
Felix concludes, “ It is a joy to provide a service which has a positive impact on the health and well-being of others. At Michelle Felix Group our distinct personality is: ‘Possessing vision and focus without sight’. Can people with sight loss work in the fitness industry? Yes we can!”
Where next? Find out how you can help your clients who experience anxiety HERE
