The benefits of exercise and physical activity are undeniable: we sleep better, improve our mood, increase our energy, and even lower our risk of certain diseases.
William Beck Schutte ’26 is passionate about fitness and its many benefits, and can often be found working out at the Joan Chouinard Luce Recreation & Wellness Center or Loyola Fitness Studio. He likes lifting weights, running on the treadmill and riding a stationary bike. And as much as he loves working out, he wants others to experience its benefits, especially those with physical disabilities.
His 2023 internship at the Institute for Human-Centered Design in Boston got him thinking about accessibility in gyms and other workout spaces.
“One of the things I learned in my internship is that outdoor spaces really only have limited access. If you look at walking trails, they can’t meet ADA standards. [Americans with Disabilities Act] “There are restrooms and benches every 15 yards. But there’s no reason why gyms can’t be more accessible,” Schutte said. “But the research I’ve found so far has shown that… [indicates] “Typically, people with disabilities don’t feel like they have their rights or enough access in public gyms. And we felt like there was a bit of a gap in the research: how do people with disabilities exercise when they don’t have access to outdoor or indoor spaces?”
Schutte will explore that question, gather research, and write a 15- to 20-page literature review paper on the topic with the university’s Weiss Summer Research Program in the summer of 2024. Not only is his research timed with the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024, but Schutte also has a personal connection because he is blind.
Schütte’s research found that people with disabilities are at a disadvantage in gyms because the equipment is only partially accessible.
He is independent, climbing Mount St James on his own without the use of a walking stick and says most people don’t realise he is blind until he tells them, but at the gym, his vision is what helps him understand the barriers that people with physical disabilities may experience.
“I’ve learned that ADA compliance doesn’t necessarily mean accessible,” said Schutte, who reads and writes in Braille for academic assignments and uses a program to translate his work into print for his professors.
“The ADA was enacted in 1990, and then some of the standards were updated in 2010, and gyms were included in that update. One thing we’ve noticed recently is that physical facilities don’t always have to be fully accessible, and that puts people with disabilities at a disadvantage in gyms.”
In Schutte’s project, the term “gym” broadly encompasses training spaces, including fitness centers, campus recreation centers, physical therapy offices, yoga studios, and other spaces for exercise classes. In his research, he cited two studies that used the AIMFREE tool to analyze fitness centers’ ADA compliance and general accessibility. 0% of the spaces analyzed in the two studies were fully ADA compliant.
