Nik’s Mencap Ride for Wellbeing
“I, Albert Henry Kinsman, was born in 1916 in London, England… one of my big achievements was, when I was 14, I had a friend… we decided to cycle to Scotland, from London, for adventure.”
At 4:00 AM on August 28th, I will embark on the greatest fitness challenge of my life: I will cycle 555 miles (almost 900km) from London to Glasgow in just four days. I will be following as closely as possible the same route my great-grandfather rode in 1930, which he talked about on an audio cassette I recently discovered.
Adventure is a grand motivation but I have another reason for undertaking this journey. For the past year I’ve had the joy of working for the Royal Mencap Society, a national charity dedicated to equality and inclusion for people with learning disabilities in the UK. The people we support deserve to have the same aspirations and opportunities as anyone else. That includes a right to the best possible health. Yet those with learning disabilities are approximately 2.5 times more likely to have health problems than the general population.1,2 Mencap recently launched a three-year campaign to solve health inequalities at all levels from national healthcare policy to lifestyle-related issues.3 But right now we need your help to start making a difference.
We want to purchase an outdoor exercise bike for one of our services to immediately improve the health and well-being of the people we support. Your vital donation can make that possible.
Help Improve Quality of Life in Learning Disabilities
You can have a direct and personal impact on the physical health and mental well-being of vulnerable adults for years to come. This is because physical exercise has a tremendous impact not only on fitness and longevity, but also on cognition and mental health.4,5 Access to fitness equipment in a comfortable, familiar environment will foster confidence yielding increased frequency and quality of exercise. Most of all, the long-term health benefits will be enormous and set an example for services nationwide.
Get Involved
Your donation of any size will have a direct impact on the health of vulnerable adults. Then, go another mile:
- Share this page on social media using any of the buttons below.
- Follow me on Strava and berate me if you don’t see at least three training sessions per week!
- Finally, join the mailing list for updates.
P.S. I’ve also included references you can read to learn more about the unique health issues commonly faced by people with learning disabilities and the benefits of physical exercise. You can make an instant impact by contributing here. If you have any questions, please leave a comment!
Update: the ride is over, but please do consider donating directly to Mencap here.
- Emerson, E., Hatton, C., Dickson, K., Gone, R., & Caine, A. (2012). Clinical psychology and people with intellectual disabilities (Vol. 97). John Wiley & Sons.
- Research and statistics about common associated health problems for learning disabilities.
- Mencap’s Health Vision Statement
- Cook, B. G., Li, D., & Heinrich, K. M. (2015). Obesity, physical activity, and sedentary behavior of youth with learning disabilities and ADHD. Journal of learning disabilities, 48(6), 563-576.
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Hötting, K., & Röder, B. (2013). Beneficial effects of physical exercise on neuroplasticity and cognition. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 37(9), 2243-2257.
