The Elliptical Man

Sounds like an  Arnold Schwarzenegger film doesn't it? The title of my blog today refers to a recent facebook post by my friend Cait Waxler who runs the Ability program at the Ambler YMCA. Read it here and share it and encourage some folks to donate to the Y on behalf of Cait so she can continue running great programs for kids like me. I'm selfish that way.

Briefly, the Eliiptical Man story is about a nice man trying to work out, who takes the time to be nice to a special needs teen on the elliptical next to him, probably at the expense of his own workout. If you haven't ever spent time with a kid like the kid in the story, think about another Arnold film where he asks the kids "Who is your Daddy, and what does he do?" Now imagine a kid asking you that question repeatedly every 5 minutes. I know this is an exaggeration, but repetitive questioning is a real thing with my friends with Autism or Aspergers. No one really knows why they do it, but they do and while some people see it as an annoyance, others like the Elliptical Man see it as a chance to treat someone special like a normal person. With no training at all, Mr. Elliptical was even helping the boy by engaging him in conversation about his questions which is one of the ways professionals deal with the situation. That's not why Mr. Elliptical is a hero. He's a hero because he gave up some of his time for someone who needed it more. Not everyone does that these days. There are plenty of people in the gym who complain about the music or complain about not getting their favorite spin bike or complain for the sake of complaining. These people are lucky to have their own world to live in. Mr. Elliptical lives in the real world where different people live and sometimes you need to think of others and not yourself. Fortunately, there are lots of people like Mr. Elliptical and Cait Waxler who live in my world, and I promise to use this blog to promote them as much as possible.