The Accessibility of YouTube Fitness Videos for Individuals Who Are Disabled Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preliminary Application of a Text Analytics Approach.

BACKGROUND: People with disabilities face barriers to in-person physical activity (PA), including a lack of adaptive equipment and knowledgeable instructors. Given this and the increased need for digital resources due to widespread COVID-19 lockdowns, it is necessary to assess the accessibility of digital fitness resources for people with disabilities. To investigate whether YouTube fitness content creators have made videos accessible to people with disabilities would be informative about access to PA during COVID-19 and could also provide insight into the feasibility of individuals who are disabled relying on YouTube for PA in a post-COVID-19 world. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to ascertain if disability-friendly PA videos on YouTube are accessible through searching general fitness terms and whether a change in the availability of accessible fitness resources for people with disabilities occurred on YouTube between before and during the COVID-19 pandemic on "Hospital/Medical Institutions," "Individual(s)," and "Other(s)" channels. Secondary aims are to investigate if different categories of YouTube channels produce more accessible fitness content and highlight any disparities in disability-friendly PA content on YouTube. METHODS: A cross-sectional text analysis of exercise-related YouTube videos was conducted. The authors used Python (version 3.0) to access the YouTube database via its data application programming interface. Terms pertaining to PA that were searched on YouTube were at-home exercise, exercise at home, exercise no equipment, home exercise, home-based exercise, no equipment workout, and workout no equipment. Various elements (eg, view count and content generation) of the videos published between January 1 and June 30, 2019 (n=700), were compared to the elements of videos published between January 1 and June 30, 2020 (n=700). To capture a broad idea of disability-friendly videos on YouTube, videos were labeled "accessible" if they were found in the first 100 video results and if their title, description, or tags contained the following terms: para, paralympic, adaptive, adapted, disabled, disability, differently abled, disability-friendly, wheelchair accessible, and inclusive. Each video and channel were categorized as "Hospitals/Medical Institutions," "Individuals," or "Other(s)." RESULTS: The analysis revealed a statistically significant increase in viewership of fitness content on YouTube (P=.001) and in fitness content generated by Hospitals/Medical Institutions (P=.004). Accessible terms applicable to people with disabilities had minimal appearances in 2019 (21 videos) and 2020 (19 videos). None of the top viewed fitness videos that populated on YouTube from 2019 or 2020 were accessible. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of accessible disability-friendly videos remains diminutive relative to the prevalence of disability in the general population, revealing that disability-friendly videos are seldom findable on YouTube. Thus, the need for disability-friendly fitness content to be easily searched and found remains urgent if access to digital fitness resources is to improve.

A novel portable and cost-efficient wheelchair training roller for persons with disabilities in economically disadvantaged settings: the EasyRoller.

PURPOSE: Stationary training rollers enable wheelchair users to maintain physical health and train as athletes, which serves to treat and prevent immobility-associated chronic disease and improve cardiorespiratory fitness required for sports performance. However, conventional exercise equipment is largely inaccessible for persons with disabilities in low-resource areas, primarily due to cost. The aim of this study was to prototype, develop, and test a portable, cost-efficient stationary training device for wheelchair users in low-resource settings - The EasyRoller. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Stakeholder input from wheelchair athletes, trainers, and potential commercial manufacturers was solicited and utilized to conceptualize The EasyRoller design. The device was constructed from easily sourced, low cost components, following which it was user-tested with Para athletes. Feedback was analysed and incorporated into newer versions of the prototype.Results and conclusions: The EasyRoller creatively combines easily-sourced components to significantly cut down cost and ease both manufacture and repair for use in low-resource settings. The device is portable with a total weight of 34 pounds and total size of 42 linear inches while also affordable with a total cost of USD$199. Hereby, The EasyRoller has the potential to increase physical activity participation in populations with impairment who live in socioeconomically deprived world regions.Implications for rehabilitationExercise and physical activity are key aspects of health and quality of life for persons with disabilitiesStationary training rollers, devices that enable wheelchair users to train, are often bulky and expensive and therefore inaccessible for populations in socio-economically disadvantaged settingsThe EasyRoller is a portable and affordable training device that increases access to exercise and physical activity for these populations.

Access denied: the shortage of digitized fitness resources for people with disabilities.

PURPOSE: The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted every aspect of life, including how people exercise and access fitness resources. Prior to COVID-19, the global burden of disease attributable to sedentary behavior disproportionately affected the health of people with disabilities (PWD). This pre-existing gap has only widened during COVID-19 due to limited disability-friendly digital exercise resources. The purpose of this work is to examine this gap in accessibility to digital fitness resources, and re-frame the notion of accessibility to suit the contemporary context. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using machine learning, video titles/descriptions about home exercise ordered by relevance populated on YouTube between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2020 were examined. RESULTS: Using the search terms, "home exercise," "home-based exercise," "exercise no equipment," "workout no equipment," "exercise at home," or "at-home exercise," 700 videos ordered by relevance included 28 (4%) that were inclusive of participants with disabilities. Unfortunately, most digital fitness resources are therefore inaccessible to PWD. The global pause the pandemic has induced may be the right moment to construct a comprehensive, indexed digital library of home-based fitness video content for the disabled. There is a further need for more nuanced understandings of accessibility as technological advancements continue.Implications for RehabilitationPhysical activity is incredibly important to the quality of life and health of all people.Physical activity levels, however, remain lower among persons with disabilities.Access to disability-friendly resources remains a challenge and worsened by the circumstances of COVID-19 due to an apparent lack of digital fitness resources for persons with disabilities.A broader and comprehensive definition of accessibility must recognize digital advances and access to physical activity for persons with disabilities must feature digital resources.