Recreational therapist Gina Schulz is leading a new program called Chair One Fitness and our adult day participants are already loving it! Gina took a few minutes to introduce us all to Chair One Fitness.

What is Chair One Fitness?

COF is a high intensity, seated, interactive, total body workout. The mission of COF is “to go beyond boundaries created by perceived limitations enabling everyone to stay active mentally and physically no matter age and ability.”

Who can benefit from Chair One Fitness?

Anyone can benefit from COF, but it is specially designed for individuals who have complications with standing during a fitness regimen. On average a person can burn 225-255 calories during a 45-minute class (with target heart zones at fat burn and cardio levels).

I like working the left side of my body to get it stronger. It makes me happy!

Jessica, Chair One Fitness participant

What are the goals of the program?

COF is designed to keep individuals mobile to ensure they remain progressive in daily function and/or recovery. COF benefits participants physically, mentally and socially.

What is a typical class like?

Class is held for 45-minutes and includes a warm-up, workout and cool down, all to a fun playlist. The entire workout is completed from a seated position. Each song offers a unique routine that works the entire body.

What makes it fun?

The interaction between everyone makes the class a blast. The playlist offers familiar songs that get everyone singing along while sweating it out together!

How does Chair One Fitness differ from other programs?

COF is different because it eliminates the barrier of standing during exercise. It offers a full body workout from a seated position; people participate at their ability.

What are some success stories or statements that you have heard?

One participant who doesn’t like to exercise came to try a class. After her first session, the person said it was so much fun that she signed up for the remaining weeks and has continued to come since then.

The next 6-week session of Chair One Fitness starts Wednesday, September 16, and continues through Wednesday, October 21. Class takes place from 4:45 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. in our adult day services area at our main facility (4740 Kingsway Drive, Indianapolis). Anyone is welcome to participate; cost is $25 per person or $40 for two people who sign up together.

Registration closes soon. Limited spots are available and will fill up quickly, so contact us to register today for the next session of Chair One Fitness.

Project SEARCH at Community Hospital North and Community Hospital East as well as the CHIPS Community Hospital South program are all up and running. Community Hospital North has 13 interns; Community Hospital East has 14 interns; and Community Hospital South has 5 interns.

For the first few weeks, participants are in class to learn all the requirements in order to begin their first internship/work experience. There are 28 mandatory online activities that must be completed prior to the first rotation. With the new way of doing things this year, it is taking a bit longer for each intern to grasp the information, complete the skills test portion and learn the way around the hospital.

The hybrid model of learning has the interns onsite 2-3 days per week (Community South the interns are on site 4 days per week). This hybrid model allows half of the class to be onsite on different days to promote social distancing, as well as allowing adequate time to sanitize the room, supplies and equipment. When the interns are not onsite, they are learning virtually.

Our team leads Kelly Pattison, Melissa Hardesty and Cori Rees have been champions with their interns and their teams to provide the leadership needed to groom and guide each intern toward success.

Many of the interns utilize public transportation to arrive at the hospitals. Team leads at Community North and Community East provided mobility
training to the intern(s) over the summer. During mobility training, safety measures were paramount and interns used hand sanitizer and masks.

Mask wearing has not caused any issues with our interns; maintaining social distance is always a challenge for everyone. There are times when we use hand-over-hand as a teaching tool wearing masks and gloves; constant hand sanitizing is the new way of coaching.

Intern Conner is proud to have already memorized the communication framework tool AIDET adopted by healthcare professionals; he is seemingly off to a great start for this program year!

“Acknowledge the people; Introduce my name; Duration (tell the people how long I may be doing the thing I am doing); Explain to the people what I am doing;” and Thank the people for letting me help them.”

Conner, Project SEARCH Intern

Are you an Amazon shopper?

Easterseals Crossroads can benefit from every purchase you make at Amazon.com. Look for Crossroads Rehabilitation Center, Inc., which is our legal name, as your charity of choice on http://smile.amazon.com.

Once you are logged in to your Amazon.com account, 0.5 percent of your purchases will be routed to Easterseals Crossroads.

If you shop at Amazon, visit our wish list!

If you are an Amazon shopper and can help our program areas with supplies, please consider shopping for Easterseals Crossroads by visiting our charity wish list on Amazon Smile. 

We are in need of educational tools and toys to be used by our therapists in our children’s programs. These tools and toys are used in physical, occupational and speech-language therapy appointments, as well as in our respite and adult day service areas.

Since we create our lists with our most used and needed items, shopping through our charity wish list on Amazon Smile enables us to obtain just what we need. They even ship directly to our office so that we can distribute to the appropriate program area.

Next time you visit Amazon, please choose us as your charity of choice even if you are not able to purchase items from our charity wish list. AmazonSmile is a simple way for you to support us every time you shop, at no additional cost to you.

Visit AmazonSmile on your web browser or activate through the Amazon Shopping app for iOS and Android phones.

Happy shopping at http://smile.amazon.com!

Do you enjoy walks outside? If so, please join our virtual walk challenge by raising $10 for Easterseals Crossroads for each walk you take between now and August 31. You can donate yourself or ask your family and friends to support your walks.

Every walk you take benefits you, as well as people with disabilities in our very own community!

Set up is simple; click here to get started.

If you want to ask your friends and family to support you, please use these links for ideas on how to do that:

• Step by step instructions to build a fundraising page
• Examples of how to share your story on social media
• How to share your story via an email message

If you want to help but prefer not to fundraise, please consider a donation in support of our mission. And don’t forget to follow us at #WalkForESC to share your journey!

On July 26, 2020, the Americans with Disabilities Act is achieving its 30-year anniversary. This reach of this civil rights law has the ability to affect all of us at some point in our lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 25.6 percent of adults in the US have some type of disability; that number is consistent in Indiana at 25.5 percent.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect in 1990. This law prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life. This includes employment, schools and transportation, as well as private and public places such as restaurants, motels and other venues that are open to everyone. Since the law went into effect, there have been significant changes, most specifically in 2008, which strengthened the law and effected change to the definition of disability.

This major legislation has made many improvements in the lives of individuals with disabilities in our country. Prior to this legislation, opportunities of daily living had great potential of denial for people with disabilities.

Meet Scott

Scott is a 64-year-old single man who lives independently. He is an active person and enjoys living in Indianapolis with all the options it provides. Scott has lived in different areas of the country, but has found that he enjoys the midwest moderate climates the best for him. Scott was in an automobile accident in 1980 that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He decided long ago to not let disability change his life, so he quickly adapted to his new way of living, learning, working and playing.

After his accident, Scott knew immediately that he needed to figure out transportation as that would be critical to his daily life. He quickly learned how to drive with hand controls so that he could get to work and around the city where he lived. 

Although very recently retired, Scott worked for the majority of his career managing finances in the business offices of three different churches. After his accident, Scott knew that there would be some changes necessary for him to actually get to his work desk. For that reason, one of his first trips driving with hand controls was a visit to work so that he and his employer could determine what changes were necessary for him to return to his job. 

Accessible Workplaces

Scott’s accident was prior to ADA and access to enter the building where he worked, as well as his office and desk, was not in place. His employer put in a ramp so that Scott could enter the building, modified a bathroom and raised Scott’s desk a few inches so that Scott could access it with his wheelchair. Scott’s employer and he were able to adjust to the accessibility challenges and find solutions so that Scott could continue his employment. Scott felt very fortunate that he was able to return to work within three months of a near fatal accident.

One area of adaptation that did not work out quite so well for Scott in 1980 was accessible housing after his accident. “I had to find new housing as the condo I was living in at the time was not accessible. Luckily, I was able to find an apartment that fit my needs and did not require any modifications,” said Scott.

Accessible Communities

Scott became comfortable moving around within his city, but travel to other cities provided accessibility unknowns prior to ADA. “The most glaring example of lack of accessibility within a city was my trip to New York City for a work conference towards the end of the 1980s. It seemed as though their idea of a curb cut back then was simply a worn-down curb. It was easier for me to move around in my chair out on the street with all the traffic, which was far more dangerous,” said Scott.

Access to restaurants falls under the breadth and reach of ADA as they are public and private businesses. Prior to 1990, Scott remembers going out to dinner many times with no front door access to the restaurant.

“I cannot remember the number of times when I had to enter through the kitchen of a restaurant rather than the front door. One time I had to use a freight elevator to access the dining room. I rode up that elevator with a case of lettuce on the floor right next to me,” said Scott.

Scott lived in Minnesota when ADA was passed. “Minnesota was very progressive and did an amazing job of adopting the regulations of ADA. I moved to Indiana in 1999 and found that the moderate climate here (as compared to Minnesota) was a huge advantage for me. No matter where I have lived or will live, I don’t let much stop me from doing what I want and need to do. I have never let disability change the way I want to live my life,” said Scott.

“I do remember one time where I almost had the opportunity to travel to Europe for a work conference. This was around 1990 and not much had been done in our own country with accessibility. After much discussion, my boss decided that if I attended the conference in Europe, it might end up being more about me and my accommodations as opposed to a learning opportunity. That hurt; I was disappointed, but sadly I understand the concerns,” said Scott.

Public Awareness of ADA

Thirty years later, the Americans with Disabilities Act continues to reflect our nation’s dedication to civil rights for people with disabilities, especially in consideration of accessibility.  “Awareness and access are the biggest outcomes of ADA, which is great,” said Scott.

According to a report by Lex Frieden in 2015, The Impact of the ADA in American Communities, ADA has helped people gain access to public accommodations with attention to things like curb ramps, accessible parking, buses with lifts and ramps, etc.—making media more accessible with closed captioning and relay services. The ADA’s greatest impact has been improvements in access to public accommodations. Of respondents, 57 percent agree access to public accommodations, retail and commercial establishments has shown the greatest improvement since passage of the ADA.

Employment Opportunities

As for employment, it is generally agreed that people with disabilities remain a very viable and qualified talent pool, yet statistically untapped. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 19.3 percent of persons with a disability were employed in 2019. In contrast, the employment-population ratio for persons without a disability was 66.3 percent. This statistic is consistent across all educational attainment groups with unemployment rates for persons with a disability being higher than those for persons without a disability.

“I feel as though employment is still the biggest challenge and hurdle for people with disabilities in our community and our country,” said Scott. 

Businesses in our community have the advantage of an employment resource in Easterseals Crossroads. Our employment division worked with 3,588 veterans and individuals with disabilities last year to gain successful employment outcomes. Learn how the employment division at Easterseals Crossroads can help you find qualified job candidates with disabilities for your open positions.

Celebrate 30 years of ADA by learning more at the National Network – Information, Guidance and Training on the Americans with Disabilities Act 

submitted by Tracy Gale, PsyD, HSPP, and Emmaleigh Badeaux, MA, LMHC, Easterseals Crossroads 

In Indiana, children with disabilities ages 3 to 22 are eligible to receive special education services through their local public school. These services may include speech, occupational, and physical therapies, as well as academic supports. The first step in accessing special education services is to request an educational evaluation. During this evaluation, a team of specialists will gather information to determine if your child has a qualifying disability. 

If your child is found eligible for services, the Case Conference Committee, along with the parents, will design an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The IEP explains what services will be implemented for your child. Below are recommendations to help guide you through this experience: 

• Be sure to request assessment in all of the relevant developmental areas: cognitive, social, physical, behavioral, and academic development.  
• Keep a detailed record of the special education process. Keep all documents together, and always communicate with the school in writing or email. 
• Learn the timeline contained in Article 7 that the school must follow. Article 7 contains rules about special education in Indiana.  
• Build a respectful working relationship with your child’s school – work as a team rather than opponents. 
• Ask for a draft of the proposed IEP before the case conference: read what they are proposing, gather your questions, and respond at the meeting.  
• Do not sign the IEP at the meeting. Take some time to reflect on the many important topics discussed. 
• Share your concerns and questions at the meeting. If something seems wrong, say it.  

Special education is meant to enable your child to reach their maximum potential, but it can be a difficult world to navigate. There are educational advocates who can help in this process by attending case conferences, making recommendations and acting as guide for the parents. 

Even though school services may be unfamiliar to you, remember that you are an expert on your child and your child’s best advocate.