Several reviewed papers show that fitness center management frequently prioritizes profit over inclusion, declining to invest in adaptive equipment or training. Accessibility becomes optional rather than necessary, leaving a capitalist dimension open to exclusion.

Accessibility and Economic Prioritization

Future studies should focus on disabled participants as co-researchers rather than subjects. Incorporating their firsthand accounts into design and analysis would make research more accessible, ensuring that policy and facility design reflect lived realities rather than able-bodied stereotypes.

Prioritize Lived Experience Research

The absence of firsthand accounts from adults with disabilities in the existing literature constitutes a form of inaccessibility. When disabled voices are underrepresented in data, the resulting policies and designs invariably reflect able-bodied assumptions.

The study sees gym environments as cultural spaces that favor specific bodies. "Fitness" is visually associated with muscularity, youth, and physical ability. This cultural norm serves as a gatekeeper, excluding those whose bodies do not conform to that ideal, even when physical access is available.

Fitness Culture as a Site of Ableism

Nikolajsen, Helene, et al. “Barriers to, and Facilitators of, Exercising in Fitness Centres among Adults with and without Physical Disabilities: A Scoping Review.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18, no. 14, 2021, p. 7341. MDPI, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147341

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