TY - JOUR
T1 - The Gatekeepers to Fitness
T2 - A Correspondence Study to Examine Disabling Practices Among Fitness Center Personnel
AU - Healy, Sean
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Human Kinetics, Inc.
PY - 2022/4
Y1 - 2022/4
N2 - Fitness centers may be an ideal setting for physical activity, yet qualitative findings suggest social-level barriers constrain access for people with disabilities. To further test this, I employed an online message correspondence study to investigate the effect of impairment status on the responsiveness of a national sample of fitness centers to requests for services. Email requests were sent to 800 fitness centers, of which 200 were tailored to each of the four investigative conditions (i.e., control, vision loss, spinal cord injury, or being autistic). The odds of receiving a positive response were 40.5% lower for individuals with vision loss (p =.011) and 33.3% lower for individuals with spinal cord injury (p =.055), as compared with individuals without an impairment. Specifically, the odds of receiving a positive response for personal training were 58.8% lower among individuals with vision loss (p =.003) and 41.1% lower for individuals with spinal cord injury (p =.065).
AB - Fitness centers may be an ideal setting for physical activity, yet qualitative findings suggest social-level barriers constrain access for people with disabilities. To further test this, I employed an online message correspondence study to investigate the effect of impairment status on the responsiveness of a national sample of fitness centers to requests for services. Email requests were sent to 800 fitness centers, of which 200 were tailored to each of the four investigative conditions (i.e., control, vision loss, spinal cord injury, or being autistic). The odds of receiving a positive response were 40.5% lower for individuals with vision loss (p =.011) and 33.3% lower for individuals with spinal cord injury (p =.055), as compared with individuals without an impairment. Specifically, the odds of receiving a positive response for personal training were 58.8% lower among individuals with vision loss (p =.003) and 41.1% lower for individuals with spinal cord injury (p =.065).
KW - accessibility
KW - discrimination
KW - gyms
KW - social barriers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128493742&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1123/apaq.2021-0136
DO - 10.1123/apaq.2021-0136
M3 - Article
C2 - 35065534
AN - SCOPUS:85128493742
SN - 0736-5829
VL - 39
SP - 214
EP - 229
JO - Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly
JF - Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly
IS - 2
ER -