On July 28th, we hosted our second “Swerve in the Dark ” event at Swerve Fitness in NYC. This was an event open for visually impaired and blind people as well as for sighted participants. “Swerve in the Dark” had a mixed group of visually impaired and sighted individuals. All of the participants were blindfolded so that those who were sighted can be placed in the shoes of those who are visually impaired and blind, and so everyone participating could be on the same playing field.
At one point or another in life, all of us have been forced to step outside of our comfort zone to attain something, and for the sighted participants in this class, blindfolding them did just that. Without having the ability to see much or nothing at all, sighted people were forced to move forward in this class without having their vision as a crutch. Some of the ways they made up for their lack of vision was to pay attention to the music being played, the rhythm of the music, or what the instructor was saying. It was interesting to see the sighted people adapt to the class with this temporary limitation, and they were able to get an idea of how visually impaired and blind people would navigate a spin class.
One of the owners of Swerve and Griffin Pinkow came up with the idea of this class. Through having “Swerve in the Dark” be part of a regular Swerve class, Griffin stated, “The people in the room that aren’t ‘swerving in the dark’ get to find out who we are, what the organization is about, and help educate other able-bodied people that either might want to participate in the event itself next time around or just get involved in general.”