As a wheelchair user, competitive handcyclist, and adviser on disability inclusion in sports and marketing, I’ve experienced fitness spaces from two perspectives: as a customer and as someone helping organisations create more inclusive experiences.

In 2025, I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to explore how fitness environments can become more welcoming for people with disabilities. The first stage of my research took me across Australia, where I met with gyms, leisure centres, disability organisations, fitness professionals, allied health practitioners, and people with disabilities. The findings have since been published in my report.

The strongest lesson was surprisingly simple: inclusion starts with making people feel welcome.

The fitness industry often focuses on inclusion through the lens of physical accessibility. Ramps, lifts, accessible toilets, wider pathways, and adapted equipment are all important. Without them, many people simply cannot participate. However, accessibility alone does not guarantee that someone will feel comfortable getting through the door.

For many people with disabilities, the journey begins long before they visit a facility. They browse websites, search social media, read reviews, and look for accessibility information. Consciously or subconsciously, they are asking a simple question: “Will I feel comfortable here?”

Many of the biggest barriers aren’t physical, they’re informational, social, and emotional. People worry about being judged, feel uncomfortable asking for support, or wonder whether staff understand disability. If accessibility information is difficult to find, or marketing never represents people with disabilities, many simply assume the space isn’t for them.

Across Australia, the organisations leading the way viewed inclusion as part of the overall customer experience, not a compliance exercise. They considered every touchpoint, from the first online search to becoming a regular member, and recognised that inclusion is built through hundreds of small interactions that shape whether someone feels welcome and valued.

Importantly, inclusion doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Small changes can make a real difference, from adding accessibility information to your website to introducing a single handcycle into a mainstream spin studio. You don’t need every solution in place from day one. Being clear about what you can provide today, what isn’t yet possible, and being willing to listen is already a significant step.

Five themes consistently emerged across the strongest examples of inclusive practice:

1. Embedding Inclusion Across the Whole Customer Journey. Inclusion started long before someone entered the facility, with accessible websites, clear information, and supportive onboarding processes.
2. Investing in Staff Training and Disability Confidence Organisations provided disability awareness training for all staff, while equipping fitness professionals with the confidence and practical skills to adapt activities for people with different abilities and needs.
3. Creating Accessible and Inclusive Environments This included not only physical accessibility, but also thoughtful programming, policies, and operational practices that enabled participation.
4. Strengthening Representation Through Inclusive Communications People with disabilities were visible in marketing, social media, and storytelling, helping potential customers see that they belonged.
5. Building Community, Confidence and Belonging Many of the most successful programmes recognised that long-term participation is often driven as much by social connection and confidence as by fitness outcomes.

Together, these approaches helped create environments where people felt welcomed, supported, and valued. And the impact extends well beyond disability. Older adults, people returning from injury, those living with long-term health conditions, and anyone intimidated by traditional gym culture all benefit from more welcoming environments.

Research shows that around 80% of people with disabilities would like to be more active, yet many face barriers that prevent them from participating. For the fitness industry, this represents a significant commercial opportunity. Organisations that invest in inclusive experiences can reach an underserved audience, attract new members, improve retention, and build stronger communities.

The next stage of my Churchill Fellowship will take me to the United States and Canada, where I’ll continue to explore best practices. But one thing is already clear: physical access is just the beginning. People need to feel welcome, supported, and that they belong.

About Marina Logacheva:

Marina is a disability inclusion advisor, marketer, and adaptive athlete specialising in sport, fitness, and active wellbeing. Following a spinal cord injury in 2020, she combined more than 15 years of marketing experience with lived experience as a wheelchair user to help advertising agencies, brands, sports organisations, and fitness operators to create more authentic and commercially relevant approaches to disability inclusion.

Her current projects include delivering disability sport and inclusion work at MATTA sports marketing agency, conducting global research into inclusive fitness environments through The Churchill Fellowship, and supporting the sports charity Regain, she was recognised at the prestigious IPA iList 2026 for her contribution to inclusion across the communications industry.

As a Churchill Fellow, Marina is researching inclusive fitness environments across Australia, the United States, and Canada to identify practical ways to make fitness spaces more welcoming and inclusive for people with disabilities.

For more information, visit disabilityinsport.com