“At first, I thought people wouldn’t listen to me because of my impairment,” says Gary Puddifoot.
“But through the training and support I received from InstructAbility, my confidence as an instructor grew and I found I could relate to people better because I understood the challenges that they were facing.”
Gary was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) 10 years ago and is a full-time wheelchair user. He now works as a gym instructor in Stratford – but getting a job in the fitness industry wasn’t without its challenges.
This is where InstructAbility stepped in.
Path to employment
The training programme, run by spinal injury charity Aspire and funded by the National Lottery, provides disabled people with a path to employment.
Research shows there is a significant gap between the number of disabled and non-disabled people taking part in sport.