I find myself caught between disabilities.
One of my most promising paths forward health-wise right now is finding a low-impact, non-repetitive form of exercise. Since I have done yoga in the past, I have been searching for a yoga studio. But since I’m in the western suburbs of St. Louis… there just isn’t much here. The most promising place, that offers classes that fit into my schedule, that is likely to be understanding and accomodating of my back issues, is Bikram.
Now I did Bikram a few years ago and loved it – unfortunately, over the course of a couple of months the humidity in the room (Bikram is “hot” yoga, done in a room that’s about 90 degrees) started making my hearing aids go wonky, so I stopped.
The way the classes are set up, I need to be able to hear. Each pose is done for a certain amount of time, with verbal cues to go in and out. My head in each pose is not necessarily pointed towards the instructor – if I do turn it, it messes up the pose.
The ADA requires that they offer me “reasonable accommodation”, but I’m just not sure what that might be in this case. I don’t see it as reasonable to require that the instructor touch me or be in my line of sight at the beginning and end of every pose. If the class were four people, maybe, but the ones I’ve seen are more usually ten to twenty.
I’d like to go visit the studio and see what they might be able to offer me, but I’d like to have some more ideas before going in. In my experience, the single biggest participation barrier has not been that the people offering the service don’t want to help; but that they just don’t know what to do. If I don’t know either, it’s not going to get me very far.
Any ideas?
What about a change in lighting at the start and end of each pose? It’s a visual cue that doesn’t require you to face any particular way.
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Howzabout asking what other yoga studios do in these situations?
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If you’re okay with others touching you – could it be arranged for another student to cue you at the end of a pose?
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hkfreeman Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Ooh, good idea. I’ll keep that one in mind. Thank you!
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I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have the instructor signal you for each pose. If you talk to the instructor ahead of time (assuming it’s the same one for each class) and make sure that you are near the front (or wherever the instructor spends most of her time), touching you or waving would be minimally intrusive for the instructor and give you the same information as everyone else.
Another solution that I’ve used in the past is to go to classes with a friend who is willing to let me know if I miss something. (plus let the instructor know, too- this is more of a backup solution for when the instructor forgets).
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hkfreeman Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 9:36 am
I’ll suggest that, but at other Bikram classes I’ve been to the teacher basically wanders through the class giving individual tips and suggestions. Depending on the size of the class, that could make it difficult for her to get back to me every minute or so. But between that and the idea of a neighboring student tapping me to cue, I should have enough ideas to make something work.
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