Justin Andino pursuing a career working with disabilities community
Justin Andino At the School of Arts and Sciences, sometimes a single course can be life changing. For Justin Andino SAS’23, that course was “Movement Experiences for People with Disabilities,” an elective taught by Javier Robles, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health who is quadriplegic and a prominent advocate for the disabled. Andino, who majored in exercise science, discusses how one course led to a calling.
Q: What made you up sign up for “Movement Experiences for People with Disabilities” in the first place?
A: I was really just looking for courses that were interesting to me. My mother was a special education teacher, and I have a brother who is on the autism spectrum, so I wanted to learn more about disabilities. But I never thought it would change my whole career path.
Q: What about the course was so impactful?
A: We were learning about something that my generation was not alive for: the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the struggles that led up to that. The course opens your eyes to what people with disabilities have to deal with on a daily basis, but that many of us rarely think about. I never thought, for example, about curbs. But for people in wheelchairs, curbs can be a devastating barrier to just getting around. I had no idea that curb cuts weren’t standard everywhere. So, it felt in some ways that I was learning about a civil rights movement that I had not learned about in high school.
"I love being able to help people live the life that they want," says Justin Andino.
Throughout the course, we met Paralympians and different people involved in the sphere of disability advocacy. It changed my whole perspective. I was like ‘I want to be in this field. I want to give a voice to these people.’ And that’s hard to do when there is not much representation in local, state or even federal government of people who would understand what people with disabilities go through.
Q: You also did an internship with Robles. What was involved?
A: Some of it involved research. I would go to state archives and learn about the history of special education in New Jersey. I also helped plan the Rutgers Adaptive Sports, Health, and Wellness Day, working with the wheelchair basketball people, the blind baseball people, and then coordinating all the volunteers coming in. It turned to be really successful.
Q: Tell me about your current job.
A: I'm a personal trainer at the Robert Wood Johnson Fitness and Wellness Center where I have clients with and without disabilities. I work with people who have Parkinson's Disease. I also have clients with autism, who are on the spectrum, and I have some visually impaired clients.
Javier RoblesI’m gaining different skills from working with each group. For the visually impaired, I had to learn how to describe different movements. And with my clients who are on the spectrum, I needed to learn what overstimulates them and what brings them down from overstimulation, and to how to use repetition to help them understand what I want them to do. With the Parkinson’s group, a lot of research has gone into developing adaptive exercises that I use to help alleviate some of the symptoms.
Q: What do you like best about the job?
A: My clients truly appreciate what I do. I have one who says every time he leaves, “I love you Justin, I’ll see you next Tuesday.” It brings a joy to my heart; it’s a blessing to be able to do this as a job. I love being able to help people live the life that they want to and do the activities that they want to do.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: I am applying to Occupational Therapy Doctorate program in the Rutgers School of Health Professions. I am a hands-on person, and I can definitely see myself working (in occupational therapy) in a school setting. But right now, my goal is simply to become the best occupational therapist I can be.
Jennifer Chudy Simon of the Department of Kinesiology and Health contributed to this article.