Hi everyone,
I'm the Founder and CEO of Sekond Skin Society, a fitness and yoga app dedicated to accessibility and inclusion, bringing people with and without disabilities together through movement.
You may be aware of several people "recommending" our app here over the last week. I'm grateful to our members who have shared about us, and to the AppleVis team for helping me to understand the best way to engage with this community.
We've launched the first version of our app this year and found the vast majority of members joining have been people who are blind or have low vision. I would love to continue learning as much as possible about how we can improve the experience and create the most impactful opportunity for you those looking to value their bodies through movement.
About us:
Our app is accessible for those using assistive tech - we'd love to continue to improve and build on it with your feedback!
We've integrated customization in caption text size and colour contrast, and separate audio adjustments for volume of instructor and volume of music.
We offer classes in multiple options, including full body (standing), seated that includes some lower body movement, seated that includes no lower body movement, and classes taught in ASL. Our instructor community is 75% people with lived experience with disabilities, including instructors who are blind, have low vision, who are Deaf, are wheelchair users, who have invisible disabilities, as well as instructors without disabilities.
Our community has shared 3 aspects of impact they've felt the most excited about.
1, Access because of the accessibility built into the app and the class options.
2, Belonging because of the representation in our instructor community.
3, Societal change. Our instructors with disabilities aren't just empowering our members with disabilities. They are also showing our nondisabled members the assumptions they may not have been aware they had, and that those assumptions are wrong. Think: I just took a yoga class taught by a blind instructor. I never imagined my yoga instructor could be blind. What else am I assuming about people who are blind?
This is what happens in an instant and we're already hearing these stories being shared.
Along with continuing to build out the app and classes with feedback and co-design experiences with members, we are also starting to do research to make the process to become a fitness instructor or yoga teacher accessible. We need more disabled leadership in this space!
The App Store link can be found here:
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/sekond-skin-society/id6738430213
I live by the mantra "all feedback is good feedback". It only helps us learn, grow, and do better to create the impact we intend to. I'd really value the opportunity to learn from you!
Thank you!
Lee-Anne