The Palsy Podcast - Episode 13 - Teya Humphris

Ciaran is joined on Episode 13 of The Palsy Podcast by Teya Humphris. Teya is a fitness professional and personal trainer, who talks about her experiences in the industry, and her relationship with sport and exercise as a disabled person. Teya is a personal trainer working in the Surrey area, but also offers online sessions. Here are her details 

https://www.trainingwithteya.com/ 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:01

Hello and welcome to the Palsy Podcast with me here in the show. I'm a playwright, screenwriter, and podcaster from South Wales. And see as Mark is Silver Palsy Awareness Month to Market, I've decided to interview interesting people who have Silver Pulsy from Wheels and beyond every day in March. If you like this episode, please stay tuned for Walters throughout the month and like and share. Now enjoy this episode of the Palsy Podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

Hello and welcome to this episode of The Palsy Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 0:55

Episode 13 of the Palsy Podcast. If you don't know what this is and you just happen to run it, um this is my podcast. I'm Kieran Fitzgerald and Mark Silver Palsy Awareness Month. I'm interviewing cool people who have CP every day in March. And today I'm really happy to be joined by uh Ta Humphries. Hi Taya, how's it going?

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Hi, hi everyone. Nice to speak with you, Kieran.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

It's really nice to meet you, and through doing this, meet people who I haven't met before, interview people that I know, and interview new cool people that are missing for the first time like like you.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yeah, no, the the episodes have been really great. I've caught a few of them. I can't wait to catch up on all of them when I get a bit more time. But it's been really cool listening to so many different people's experiences with CP.

SPEAKER_04 1:51

Thank you so much for listening. And we both find out why you've been so busy. But the first question I want to ask you is what I've asked everyone so far. What was it like growing up with CP?

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Yeah, it's such a loaded question, I think. Um I was thinking about it. And um yeah, it was I mean, it was it was hard and it wasn't hard. I think I had some great memories and I was lucky, you know, sportive family, great experiences, so it wasn't all doom and gloom at all, but I there were definitely hard moments, I think, with CP, you know, being part of our lives. I think you know, there's an element of dealing with hospital appointments or physio or you know, all the pain or difficulty that comes with that side, and also just being different, which you know, when you're a child or a teenager growing up, being different is uh never never easy, I think.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

Um did you have a lot of like intervention in terms of physio and occupational therapy when you were little?

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Um yeah, I had physio for quite a quite a lot of my childhood. I I had we I don't know if it was weekly physio maybe or monthly. I uh it varied, I think. I think until I was 16 I had physio. Um so yeah, and then I had a couple of different procedures um to to help with mobility. So for uh so for me my CP um affects my right arm and leg, so it's uh hemiplegic and it uh it's considered if you're going for the medical uh medical version, I suppose it's considered quite mild, um, although I have quite a contention with the word mild. I think everyone has their experiences of CP that's you know more or less than someone else, but it's just different.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

Um exactly which is where the the social model comes in. And I think we all uh different barriers, but there are values there, regardless of somebody who brought quote unquote severe CP or my and everyone's manifests in such a different way, which is what I'm finding out through doing this. No one's experiencing exactly the same.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

No, but then equally, I think we all have such universal experiences, even with our vast differences of how uh CP presents.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

It's so great to talk to other people with CP because I always find that you go, Oh yeah, this happened or that's the thing really cool about doing this, is so much of what was resonating with other people mirrors some of my own experiences in a way.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Um yeah, yeah, I've been nodding along to the episodes like yes, yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 4:49

Uh but but what was school like for you? What did you enjoy doing school? Like, did you have a good circle of friends?

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Yeah, yeah, I think I was quite lucky. I had good groups of friends and and good teachers. Um, so school I think was mostly positive, particularly primary school, I think was quite positive. Um, I think I I I'm I'm someone that likes learning. I'm I I think academically I I enjoyed school. I think I struggled, particularly at secondary school, with the social side of things, with just I don't know, typical teenagers. I think, you know, all the clicks and the the the way that teenagers can be, I think it it it's it's hard out there for for all of us. Um and I think I found that uh being different, trying to fit in, but never really fitting in, I think, in some ways, which I think everyone finds at some point.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

Kids can be really quick to point out difference of any kind, and if you look physically different, it can be difficult to endure yourself to be evil. And that again has been a common theme with these kind of things. You said you were quite academic, like what were you good at in school? What did you enjoy doing in school?

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Um, I was definitely liked like writing. I think I wanted to be a writer maybe growing up. I definitely liked that side of things. I'm not mathematical at all, um, so not that side. Um, and I'm actually not particularly well wasn't particularly sporty, uh, so that was certainly not um yeah, yeah. I was not I think I maybe I would have liked it in another world where it was you you didn't feel more self-conscious and everyone could just do what they was right for them. But I think in the school setting with peers that you're trying to keep up with and maybe teachers trying their best, but maybe not with the right support or resource or education, I don't know. It it it wasn't easy. I I certainly was not ever considered a sporty person or someone interested in sport, but I'm not sure how much I was given the chance to. Do you know?

SPEAKER_04 7:04

Were there many, were there many other physically disabled kids at your school?

SPEAKER_01 7:11

No, no, uh, no, there wasn't really many people at all. Um, particularly primary school, definitely not. It was a very small primary school. I don't remember oh, I remember one person, one other person who had CP actually, um, and she was a couple of years younger than me. Um uh but yeah, again, it it was hard. It was that idea that people have a very very limited idea of what disability looks like. So she she was a wheelchair user, so people understood she was disabled. Um and I I I think she got support. I I don't want to speak on her behalf, but had her own difficulties, I'm sure, with school, and I'm not gonna speak for her. But for me, it was then I wasn't in I wasn't using a wheelchair or a mobility aid, so I must be quote unquote fine.

SPEAKER_04 8:06

Um what level of support did you get in in school? Or did you feel like you had enough support?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

I think I think teachers tried on an individual basis, but I don't really remember anything specifically put in place for me. I do when I went to secondary school and when I went I I went to college and university, um, and when I got there I actually had assessments for um uh like to to check at speed of writing and if I could if I could write quick enough and and things like that, which it turns out I I couldn't uh keep up with the speed of writing, and then they gave me it was this like mini computer, not a laptop, mini, mini, like a keyboard essentially. Like it was mini without you could see like two lines of text on it. It was very strange.

SPEAKER_04 8:56

They they couldn't afford to get you a laptop.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

No, I don't know, I don't know what it was. It was this weird little contraption. I think it was so you didn't have access to any of the internet or anything, so you could use them in exams. So uh so I could type in my exams and I got some extra time, which to me was like I felt almost like I shouldn't get it, like, oh, I don't need that, I'm fine, like I write with my left hand, which in my mind is not affected by CP, so I don't need I don't need any provisions. But it was interesting to go through that process and see, well no, because you know, I there's still a difficulty in processing and coordination there, regardless of of whether it's you know, which limb is doing the work.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

Do you think there was some internalized ableism from your part? Well you thought that.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yes, definitely. Or maybe I think that, and also just not understanding like what my disability meant. I was told, oh, you know, you can't move in the same way with your right arm and leg, or it's not as strong, or it but that was to me, I was like, okay, so it's my right arm and leg, and not you know, not the cognitive ability processing or right, you know, I was like, my left arm come right, so it's fine. What difference does it make? Which actually made a huge difference, like it it really did, having that support and thinking more about the wider issues with CP, I think.

SPEAKER_04 10:19

I think like as someone who myself was otherwise like cognitively able when when someone says, Oh, processing is going to be more difficult. Like you feel no, I my understanding is not affected, so why is this affected? So that can be for me because I'm lensing to drive at mods. Um finding that really frustrating in terms of getting the processes in place and in the right order. Would you say you found several things with many other areas in your life?

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Yeah, absolutely. And driving was a big struggle for me as well. I I think it took me a lot longer because you say the processing of being like, okay, so I need to do this and then this, and I need to look at this, and I need to all these things happening at once. For me, my brain just finds it overwhelming, and and so I I I drive, but I I yeah, I don't want to do long distances because I just get quite tired and I just find that really takes a toll after after a while. Um but yeah, I definitely find uh yeah, the the cognitive the the sort of neuro neurological fatigue that you get by doing a task, whatever task is that's new or very intense or stressful that you're trying to do at quick speed just drains it immediately.

SPEAKER_04 11:44

Absolutely. And and when when were you when did you first get interested in sport and exercise? Was that something you always loved?

SPEAKER_01 11:56

So sport no. I said maybe I would have liked it in another in another world, but yeah, it wasn't really my thing growing up. In fact, I became very quickly in secondary school, like I hate I don't like PE, I don't want to do it. Um, and so everyone's very surprised I'm a personal trainer. Um just for fun, change everyone's expectations. Um, but exercise I continued with, but from the uh from the perspective of being told from physios, oh, you need to keep doing these stretches, you need to keep doing these exercises, so it became quite physio-based. Um, and then just trying to keep up, maybe some fitness, so maybe I'd stay on the the bike in the gym or something like the the sort of um stationary bike and just do something like that, and it became just the minimum that I could do, I think was what I did, um, until uh I found like personal trainers that were more supportive and and right because I had some really bad experiences in in the gym with personal trainers that didn't understand CP. I'd try and explain to them, I'd try and be okay, so this is this is how I it affects me, and they'd be put, oh it's fine, you'll be fine, don't worry, or they'd be quite dismissive, or or maybe they would go too far.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

What kind of preconceptions did they have a view with someone with CP? Do you think?

SPEAKER_01 13:16

I think I think they they didn't see the disability because I'm not a wheelchair user, which I think a lot of people go, oh then then you're then it's fine. You do you don't need any adjustments, you're fine. It's like that's not how that works, but um um or or or the other I think it was two two distinct uh approaches was either just dismissive, like you'll be fine, don't worry, and then when I couldn't do something, they'd be like, Oh, oh okay, why can't you do that? Yeah, yeah. Um, and being really confused, or it'd be the other end of almost being terrified to do anything with me. Um so my right arm is more obvious.

SPEAKER_04 13:58

And would you say not pushing you enough, not pushing you to the level that you wanted to be?

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Yeah, I think yeah, being very, very reticent to to do anything that was too challenging, and particularly my right arm is more obvious um than my than my leg, maybe in terms of like physical ability, as it were. So they would maybe not want to give me arm exercise exercises that would help strengthen my arm because they'd be like, Oh, well, you can't hold this dumbbell, so we won't we won't do that. Yeah, it would just be very very quick to go, oh okay, never mind, it doesn't matter, we'll do something else. Um we'll just do these very simple exercises and which was fine. I don't have a I think people need to start and find the right thing, but it it became hard to feel like, oh, what's the point if it's is this isn't interesting to me or it's not what I want to do.

SPEAKER_04 14:53

Um and if it's not challenging, it's not gonna have any physical benefit either.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Yeah, you want to feel the benefit of doing it, um, and yeah, I think that's the problem. But then you don't want to go the other way, which is what I also had with PTs like, you'll be fine, just do these exercises. And actually, I was really, really struggling, and I was like in lots of pain afterwards for a long time, being like, I can't do this, like I I really want to, but I don't think I can I can do this.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

How did you feel then? And and first of all, how did you find a personal trainer that suited you and suited your needs and what you're physically capable of?

SPEAKER_01 15:33

It was kind of pure luck, I'll be honest. I I got into some classes that I was doing, I tried different like exercise classes and um I started to like them, and then it just happened to have supportive people that were quite like quite you know, nice inclusive environment, happy, you know, really good at trying to help, and it was really nice. And then I moved house, and then I was like, okay, well I'd like to continue finding something like this, and I found this gym, and uh it was so it was so it seemed so scary to me. It was like in this warehouse, and there was this guy. I mean, he's he'll laugh if he listens to this. It's this guy with his tattoos and his mohawk and he's it's all this, I don't know, very sort of scary uh idea of going into this gym, and and then he was it it was great, and he asked he said, Oh, I've looked up because I must have told him about CP that I had CP, and he and he was like, Oh, I've I've looked it up, and he was sharing what he'd looked up, and it made it was just like I think it made me want to cry. I was just like, This person has taken the time to understand, even if they can't, you know, they can't necessarily understand everything from just a search and without having spoken to me. But the fact they bothered to go, oh, what is this? What does this mean? was revolutionary, which is it's quite sad, really.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

Um, but that they've taken the time to do the research and probably found that it's complex and multiple variations of it, but still like I guess want to learn from you and your and how you understand your body is gonna be better than anyone else can understand your body because it's your body, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Exactly, and they were so big on okay, we'll just we'll just give it a go, we'll just see how it works, and and and that was it. It was all very much we'll just give it a go and we'll try it, and so it was you know, it was quite uh it was a gym where people worked out quite hard, you know, it was quite intense workouts, and I thought, oh I'm not gonna be able to keep up with this, and but because it was okay, you try it this way and try it this way and do this, and actually I was able to take part and it made a huge difference to my life.

SPEAKER_04 17:46

Can you give maybe a specific example of how an exercise was adapted so that you were able to do it?

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Yeah, um so I think examples like would be if it was anything balance related. So if you were looking at I don't know, example might be a lunge if you're at lunging for and I would struggle with that, balance is a difficulty, and as I'm sure many of us can be like, um and so it'd be like okay, we won't do it with we won't we won't do the lunge maybe like this, or maybe you hold on to to to this bar or something and and making sure simple thing, that's a very simple example, but it it made a difference that someone thought, oh, actually, you're not gonna you're not gonna be able or feel comfortable putting a weight on your shoulders while you're trying to lunge or that might not feel suitable or something. So we'll try it a different way where you've got a bar. I think uh when I got stronger, then I then got a weighted vest so I could put a vest on so I could still have the weight, but I wasn't having to hold it whilst trying to do something that was hard to do at the same time, balancing at the same time. So little things like that, but I think um yeah, that exact that's an example, but also I got a I got a gripping aid from a company called uh the Active Hands Company.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

And they they're amazing.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

I I love them, they're they're amazing, and I I've had mine for a few years. I need to get a new one actually, it's probably probably uh probably needs a an update. But it's that really helped because I could then hold the weights better and and um and and have that resource. But I didn't even think about it until I started looking into it, going, well, well, what can I do to to lift the weights? Um and I think it was encouraged by the PT to be like, okay, can we look at options to help you l lift the weights, you know, so that your grip doesn't struggle? Because that was my main issue was the grip. So that was um that was that really helped. So looking at options and just finding out really or what what and what didn't.

SPEAKER_04 19:43

And and then like how did you decide I want to do this professionally? I want to be a personal trainer, what was that journey like?

SPEAKER_01 19:52

So I think I had the idea when I started getting more into the into into exercise, realizing the benefits that I was experiencing, getting stronger, getting fitter, how much more mobile I felt, how much less pain I felt, less fatigue I felt, and just how much I enjoyed it. And it was just I just really wanted that. I thought this doesn't this wasn't easy for me to get to, and I'd love it to be easier for other people. I'd love I'd love to be part of making it easier in some way. Um so I've had the idea, and I think I mentioned it to the PT that I that I was working with at the time, and he was super supportive. But he'd put it in my head, I think. He'd sort of said, Right, oh, you'd be pretty good at this if you ever wanted to go into it. And I was like, Oh no, no, no, no, no, that's not that's not gonna be me. And then it got in my head and then I thought about it.

SPEAKER_04 20:39

What were you doing like job wise at the time?

SPEAKER_01 20:42

So I mean I've had lots of jobs, that'd be a whole other podcast we go through, but I've played I've played crew quite a lot. But I um I worked in marketing at the time in a very corporate world, very long days, so I was very, very tired, and I didn't I I was didn't feel right for me. I was struggling a lot to keep up with the long days, the commutes, and and the job was fine, but yeah, I I just felt like I wasn't really what I loved. It was yeah, it was didn't feel that purpose, I suppose. So then when I thought, oh, I'd actually really like to do this, you know, maybe as a as a job, maybe I could get me a PT. Um so went down that route. I do now still do another job that's not a personal trainer, so I still work vaguely in marketing for a different company, but um I but I part now do it part-time, so I've got a bit more balanced. There was a time where I was doing both for long, long hours, so it wasn't great for work-life balance, but we're we're getting better slowly.

SPEAKER_04 21:40

Is is your ambition then to be a PT full time and make that your full term?

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Yeah, that would be that would be great. I think that would be the the dream. Um it's just hard being self employed and uh all all of the difficulty.

SPEAKER_04 21:56

I'm all the best.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

life one.

SPEAKER_04 22:02

When you were training to be a PT, like what was the training process like and how accessible was that for you?

SPEAKER_01 22:11

So I actually became a I studied to be a PT during um when the pandemic started. So during the lockdowns. So I I'd finally decided after deliberating for a while that maybe I'd be maybe I'd like to become a PT, maybe I'll do the qualification, had signed up and two weeks later we went into lockdown. And I thought, mmm, have I made a really big like mistake? I've just put loads of money into this course and I don't know what is going to happen and what what the world is going to look like and yeah it was a lot of panic. And um and it became all online. So end up everything was online whereas before it would have been live weekends where you would go and do your assessments and I was quite scared about those. And then it all was online and I had to go and film myself in gyms which was very difficult. Luckily I had access to this gym with this PT who had his own studio so I could get into his gym and and do this a bit easier but it wasn't easy to to navigate the the rules that they had to make it to make sure you you did it properly you had to record yourself the whole time you had to have always be in shot always be in audio everything which trying to set up a workout it was it was it was I mean it was it was quite funny but they um you know they did say I could have um uh what would they call it a demo person so that when I because part of training for be being a PT you've got a pretend client that you're working with and you're doing going through in a workout and you have to um explain to them the exercises and and all of that and and typically in in in personal training you're showing the exercise to them and the I I couldn't necessarily show all the exercises that I would need to have been able to demonstrate in in this workout or maybe I could but it wouldn't demonstrate quote the perfect form that I that they might say I would need to have demonstrated so it we had a demo so my PT became my demo and I had to explain everything that he was doing and saying right now as you can see he's now moving his arm like this and he's keeping his his his back upright or whatever it is. Um and um and so he it was we worked it like that which was which was really good actually and I think it showed a skill of that I think a lot of PTs struggle with the idea of of what if you can't do the exercise can you clearly explain it without having to demonstrate it because so much of it's based on demonstrating it physically that it feels like you couldn't be a PT if you couldn't do it.

SPEAKER_04 24:47

I I'm gonna take it back to my tennis coach because like my tennis coach to me um is real chasing he's a real chasing and sometimes he asks me to do things like on my feet with movements of my feet the same place but the way he explains it even though he can't show it to me he makes it clear he makes it clear what the instruction is and communication through PT or coach in that role must be so important.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Yeah yeah I think so and I I think it's very easy to slip into if you're PT going oh it's this and you just do the exercise and there's a lot of people who are personal trainers or coaches or whatever who were very good at sport.

SPEAKER_04 25:35

You know they've gone into it because they like sport they like exercise great that makes sense they they enjoy they enjoy movement and it that's wonderful but when you are that type of person it can be hard then when someone doesn't understand what you're someone doesn't know what the exercise is or can't do the exercise or maybe not in the way that you can do the exercise and that's where I think a lot of fitness professionals get caught out when they maybe meet a disabled client and they think oh hang on they can't do that what do we do now yeah and not finding way found it like which kind of leads on really you good at this because this leads on they say to my next question and um so how do you tailor your sessions to the needs of your individual clients they may be disabled or not and like how does your lived experience as someone with some wealthy help you in that way I guess or does it might not yeah um so I guess when it comes to how I tailor my clients I always say this is how I say it and how how I work is I treat all my clients exactly the same in that I treat none of them the same.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

They are individuals and that is how they are so it there is no and there's no blanket understanding okay this person has CP therefore this is their workout this is what we're gonna do exactly it's not like that I I work with a mixture of people with disabilities and and non-disabled people and mixture of disabilities um that with my clients with disabilities and I and I don't assume anything it doesn't matter who who they are like okay so what is how does it affect you what what does what are your biggest barriers to exercise what are you more importantly the thing I care about most more than anything else is what do you want to do? What do you enjoy doing? What's your goal? Like to me that's the the biggest thing I don't I I care about the the difficulties obviously but I almost don't because I I don't want to focus that oh it's all about the difficulty it's all about no what's what's the thing we want to do what's the what's the fun bit what what can we get to and what makes it worthwhile then it might be difficult you know um and uh I think that's that's what I try and do is find what they want to achieve and and work with that. It may not be that it might be that we can't get quite to the what they're looking for maybe that that's a difficulty or it might take a long time whatever it is but it's finding that that goal and I think that's what I think that most I think that's what my experience is that when you're a disabled person with exercise it's either you're doing physio and it's a kind of a to fix you to improve your movement it's very clinical based medical model and yeah exactly or it's and I know you've interviewed some Paralympians there's no disrespect to any Paralymphian they're amazing and incredible people um but or it's become but uh you or you become a paralympian it's almost like too busy or become a paralympian and I I just kind of want people to be able to find their own relationship with exercise and movement and that doesn't have to be become a paralympian it can be if they want to be but it it's you know how what do they like to do in their daily life and and what do they enjoy and I think that's what most people just a bit disabled or not struggle with of trying to find a not a routine with exercise that they can keep doing but for example if one of our able body mates started running we wouldn't say oh when are you gonna be in the Olympics exactly exactly but if you're a disabled person and you say oh I've started doing running or starting with sport I'd be like oh so you're gonna be in the next paralytics no no I just just thought I'd go for a job I don't know and that comes in fashion as well and I think it's great when disabled people can enjoy exercise and sport as you've said for the sake of enjoying exercise and sport without that pressure or judgment or needing to live up to some expectation yeah and it but also challenging yourself is good like wanting to challenge yourself is is great and not being scared of movement and scared of breaking yourself because someone told you that you are fragile and you shouldn't do this exercise. Well actually now you're probably fine you just move differently to someone else and that's okay that's not a problem. So I think my lived experience really showed me that because I spent a long time being aware of the fact that I moved differently to other people and thinking that oh that was bad and therefore I was going to get an injury and I was going to you know do damage and I therefore I shouldn't take part and that wasn't that wasn't the case at all.

SPEAKER_04 30:28

If I I've got stronger more mobile and and had a lot more to my life because of it and I think also that experience of um knowing how hard it is though to build that relationship with exercise when you've got pain in the mix when you've got fatigue in the mix that makes it really hard to go I want to be consistent but I've got pain and I've got fatigue and I've got mobility issues that come and go maybe I don't know it depends on on the on the I can't think is people with TP use three to four times more energy than neurotypical people.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

How do you manage that with the work that you do build strategies to manage your energy yeah it it's it's tough I'll be honest with you I mean it's sort of an ongoing uh commitment to to to to managing it but I the exercise has helped and I I know people find that really odd they're like you're doing long days how how can you possibly then think like go and do a workout and sometimes I can't and there is a line where sometimes I go no I I can't go do a workout but if staying regularly active has given me more stamina more and and made me more my body more efficient with the way it uses energy so I've got I I notice a difference when I'm not active to when I'm active that oh I feel better less pain less fatigue I can go and do things but yeah the long days are tough I I will say working from home has made an incredible difference. So in my in my other job I I work from home and that's changed my life because I commuting was the biggest probably the biggest part of my energy being lost and talking to people all day in you know offices it was it was a lot and I think working from home is has made such a accessible difference to a lot of us um a lot of people I think it certainly has made this podcast possible for one thing to do it on Zoom it now but also lots of a lot of other disabled people I think homeworking has made things much more accessible.

SPEAKER_04 32:34

Yeah um do you think you've kind of had to change people's perceptions of you as a personal trainer with a disability have you faced any backlash or discrimination from either clients or people in the industry or and how have you dealt with that um I don't think so I think it made me worried about going into the industry.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

I think it was a big d worry in my mind of I couldn't be a personal trainer because people won't take me seriously because I'm a disabled person. And I think that really really was in my head um and then I had an experience with a personal trainer before I was personal trainer so this was pre pre-personal trainer but I had an experience not with my not with the one that was good obviously this was a completely different fitness professional but he this personal trainer was very perplexed as to why I was working out when I couldn't actually change my disability and they made a comment be like oh well why I sort of said that oh I'm never gonna I can't straighten my right arm oh well can you ever will you ever be able to straighten your right arm no no that that's not going to happen. Oh well why are you doing this then? What's the point? And it was just a really ignorant remark and I was standing there thinking well if he can be a personal trainer and then then then maybe I could be a personal trainer because I could understand why people might want to exercise and it just it caught me off guard. So I think I went in though thinking oh is everyone going to be really closed minded and really ignorant and I'm very lucky that so far I've not had terrible I haven't had bad experience. I've worked with gyms and PTs that are really good and really open-minded they might still be learning they might not be perfect at understanding accessibility or how everything works but they are open to listening and and that's obviously the main the main thing we can hope for is is a starting point. I think probably clients I've been more upfront about it. I think at first I wasn't sure whether to talk about too much about my disability um because it's mild you know some people think that so some people might not notice it immediately some people do and it's kind of a a thing where like do I say something do I not um but I think being more upfront about it and being more honest about my experiences and my story has actually I think helped clients or or maybe sort of thought about oh okay so I don't need to be perfect or yeah and yeah I think on the whole it's been positive there is a lot to do in the industry um and yeah but it's not been it's been positive so far. And and like on that what do you think gyms or the industry in general can do to make fitness more accessible well I think obviously you have the obvious uh the obvious problems with the physical uh accessibility issues in terms of not being step free or not having the lift in order I mean that's a common one um you know all all those physical uh issues with places which I also have struggle with I work in small studios with with gyms that are not big gyms so often I'm not working spaces that are fully accessible the dream is one day to have my own fully accessible place but uh but obviously I'm obviously very up front with any accessibility issues there are of anywhere I work but um so obviously you've got those those limitations but I think more than that it's um representation I think in the fitness industry is really important I think it's such a small um small minority of people that seem to be trying to work with the general population of people and the small minority are typically able bodied and maybe of a certain body type a certain age um and it doesn't represent uh people in the in the in society in generally and then you add in disability specifically I mean it's the tiny tiny amount of people that actually are disabled in the fitness industry and I think if there were more people of all different backgrounds that would make a huge difference and people willing to learn and and and find out more about disability which there is an education issue in the fitness industry there is not enough education around disability and people that move that don't follow a specific textbook movement maybe um that is I think that should be part of training for personal trainers of like being aware of different body types the way different bodies move yeah I think so I think I mean there is basically none in your standard qualification around disability there's there's I mean I think there was a paragraph in one of my books so that was it yeah it's very bad it's not good um I think there's then you you can do other courses and things but I I and they are helpful if you don't know anything about disability if you're not if you've not had any experience with disabled people in any way which would be quite a small life but you know you might do um then there are courses specifically around working out with disabled people um but I think it'd be more around minimising the fear of of working with people and and fear of injury and things like that. There's a lot of talk around injury prevention and um and it's which is understandable no one wants to get injured no one wants no one wants to but it's understanding actually what's going to contribute to the injury and move someone moving different the way they always move is not going to cause them the injury just because it's not what you've been taught is the way you move you know you know that's and and then I suppose how do you push that person to reach where they want to go safely and you know where the two today a body yeah yeah and that's the thing I think that's where people get really find it really difficult because they're like well how do I progress this movement? How do I and that's I think more education around yeah how bodies work or and and how how you might progress that on an individual level so I work very much on courses that it's very individual based so it's looking at scientific research so we can understand about pain about um uh fatigue about disabilities and conditions very specifically to go okay here are the actual things we need to be really careful of and very rarely is there something in exercise that I have to be really careful of but sometimes there might be something we go oh no let's not do that exercise that might that might not be a good idea but on the whole we we can see what works with the individual and and build it up with them and it's okay and and we can feel empowered to do that. I think that's what we need.

SPEAKER_04 39:17

And if people want to find you tell us people what kind of geographical area are you working in and how people how can people reach out if they're interested in sessions or things like that. So I'm based in Gonaming which is in Surrey which is in England um so I know I'm sorry um so I'm based there so in person stuff would be would be in that area but I also do online sessions um so I do work online so I do put work with people from all different um oh around the world actually I I've got people in different countries so um uh so yeah that they there are options because I want to make it as accessible as possible work with as many cool people as I can brilliant um sorry but they're anti-English sentiment to Welsh I understand we have a bad rep there's a good reason um the last thing I want to ask you is what one thing that you wish people knew about cerebral palsy I think that uh if you're a person with cerebral pausy no I'll start with around if you're a person without that doesn't have cerebral pausy I'd say that um cerebral pausy can affect people in lots of different ways and in ways you can't see a lot of the time people focus on the the the ways the the ways that you can see maybe that's the way someone moves or something but there are lots of ways that we can be challenged and find diff find things difficult in life that you can't see and actually asking your friends or family members or colleagues with CP what they find difficult what they struggle with what they want support with that would be number one thing and then if you're a person with CP I'd say just that remember that you're not broken and that you know it you might move differently you might find it difficult tiredness pain all all the all the fun things but uh you know you're not broken and and uh it's just finding what works for you and owning that owning your own body owning the way you move the way you experience the world can be hard it's really important thank you Taya that's been wonderful thank you so much for your time thank you so much Kiran it's been wonderful chatting to you so nice to meet you and yeah please check out everything that is doing uh that's about it for this episode of the Paul Z podcast thank you for listening and please feel free to like share subscribe leave a comment any questions you've got for me be great to have you questions if you want to ask some questions I can pose to my next guest over the next few days. Tomorrow I'm gonna be interviewing Athenian Stevens who is an actor and a playwright um written a memoir that was published last year. So yeah please stay tuned on YouTube Spotify and I'll podcast for that but for now it's goodbye from me and goodbye from Taya. Goodbye Thank you for listening to this episode of the Pulsy podcast with me here in the video I want to thank my guests for joining me and I hope that you'll see you in the next episode. Thank you