Making the Case for Inclusivity

A Safe Space for the Disabled

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) about 1.3 billion people worldwide have some form of disability. That’s 16% of the global population. In the U.S., one in four people suffer from a disability, whether it’s mobility-based or a condition affecting mental health and cognition.

Research overwhelmingly indicates that regular physical activity can help the disabled improve in nearly every aspect of physical and mental health, but many of the disabled are not engaging in exercise.

According to a report by the National Institutes of Health, “Nearly 60% of adults with a mobility disability report no aerobic activity, and those who are inactive are more likely to report at least one of four chronic conditions (heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer) compared with their physically active counterparts.”

Fitness facilities can play a huge role in helping this population gain the enormous benefits from regular exercise. That role begins by adhering to the requirements mandated by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), but access to a facility is only the beginning.

Hal Hargrave, CEO and president at The Perfect Step, has first-hand knowledge of how important exercise is to the disabled. In July 2007, he was paralyzed from the neck down in an auto accident. Determined to help others, in 2008, he founded the Be Perfect Foundation, which has raised more than $7 million and sponsored approximately 250 clients. He also founded The Perfect Step, exercise-based therapy centers, which offer programs to those with disabilities.

Hargrave tells us how fitness professionals and facility operators can better serve the disabled community.

CBI: What steps can clubs take in terms of creating more inclusivity within their environments?

HAL HARGRAVE: I’ll use the work I did at the Claremont Club in Berkeley, California, as an initial benchmark.

Where they can start is by addressing what the community needs are. Most clubs, in particular commercial health and wellness facilities, know the analytics of the demographics in their area. That data helps clubs make calculated decisions regarding the types of inclusive programming that would be worth considering.

This programming can provide a needed service for the local community. For instance, we discovered that in Southern California, there are over 50,000 people living with Parkinson’s disease. So, at the Claremont Club we created the Cycling for Parkinson’s program, which immediately had traction. That traction wasn’t just based on word-of-mouth; the existing population made it easily marketable.

CBI: Was this your experience?

HAL HARGRAVE: People in the area were more personally connected to my story as somebody who was injured in the local community. I was born and raised in the city of Claremont and The Claremont Club saw the opportunity to rally around my story and provide a community service—an impact story—within the walls of their studio. That connection created a very organic start to something that ended up growing legs, spreading its wings, and taking off. The impact it made on one person started this snowball effect of “build it and they will come.”

CBI: What’s the role of messaging?

HAL HARGRAVE: It’s really about the art of storytelling. The Claremont Club was successful by not only doing just the right thing but doing the right thing the right way in terms of marketing. There’s such a power in storytelling today.

Storytelling, even for the deaf community, can have an impact through nonverbal, visual stories. When you story-tell about how you gave people back their health and wellness, it has an amazing impact. It builds a movement. People always want to be connected to something bigger than themselves.

At Claremont, we found that storytelling about our clients created a human connection where the able-bodied population wanted to support the disabled population. Conversely, the disabled population finds inspiration in the able-bodied population supporting them. Those stories started to build an organic chemistry that changed the culture of the club.

CBI: What about the healthcare connection?

HAL HARGRAVE: You might want to develop a partnership with a local rehabilitation hospital or a chronic care center. In the traditional medicine world, somebody gets injured, goes to an acute care hospital, and transfers to a sub-acute rehabilitation setting.

Insurance has a role to play here. Insurance can quickly run out. People don’t get two- to six-month stays; they are being discharged more quickly and their insurance allotments are running out more quickly, so people get to what we call the “chronic long-term” stage. They go from a type of rehabilitation model and are looking for an avenue of reintegration back into society. And if they don’t have a local gym to go to, they generally throw their hands in the air and think, “Well, this is my life.”

CBI: How can clubs reach the disabled community?

HAL HARGRAVE: Welcoming a diverse crowd into your building starts with equitability and access and [doing your] due diligence to be up to ADA code.

But that’s not enough—we all have an obligation to do a little bit more.

I don’t think it’s reasonable to break your business model or finances strictly to accommodate a population segment that you’re taking a risk on them showing up because you did it. Gyms don’t need to necessarily break the bank on accessibility measures.

Sometimes it’s just a change in mindset around how we service, market, and message. It’s more about providing a place for people to go to, to network, to socialize, to have opportunities for integration into the community.

The opportunity is for gyms, especially for this population, to become prominent community-based centers.

CBI: How do you build that community, and what are the benefits?

HAL HARGRAVE: At The Perfect Step, we have service protocols around how we treat individuals with neurological disorders, but the most important thing we do is provide a platform and a facility where people can come and commune, network, and find hope through socialization first. The physical stuff, believe it or not, is secondary to them.

Of course, the physical work is the bread and butter of what we do, but the best outcomes that we get are around people’s psychological change. The community helps them find hope through connecting people that are going through similar things, or at least people that are empathetic and treat them as the individuals they are and not just as “disabled people."

Demystifying DEI

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs have become much discussed and controversial over the last couple of years. In the crossfire of supporters and critics of DEI programs are the nuances and true nature of these programs.

Whatever one may think of DEI programs, increasing diversity in the fitness industry is one of the goals of the HFA and global industry leaders. While progress has been made in recent years, problems exist. A report, Diversity in the Fitness Sector, commissioned by EuropeActive, RISE, Sport Alliance, and EXI, about DEI in Europe found that “47% of respondents have received gender-related discrimination at work, and 27% said they had experienced racial discrimination” in fitness businesses on the continent.

One of the fitness industry’s most visible proponents of DEI is Urban Adventures Companies, the parent company of VIDA Fitness, a six-location, high-end brand in the Washington, D.C., area. VIDA leaders were the subject of a cover story in the 2022 November CBI describing their experiences with implementing DEI programs in their clubs.

Michaela Brown, a general manager of VIDA’s Logan Circle location and founding DEI board chair at Urban Adventures Companies, has continued to support DEI programs in the fitness industry and hosted a session at the 2024 HFA Show (formerly IHRSA) in Los Angeles called “Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion: Real Talk for Real Solutions in the Workplace.” We asked her more about it below.

CBI: What do facility operators need to understand about DEI programs?

MICHAELA BROWN: First you have to know what kind of organization you have. There are the no-brainer organizations led by people who just get DEI organically. Then you have the other end of the spectrum: People and organizations that feel forced into DEI. For them there’s some defiance, and they look for a way out. Then you have that middle group who doesn’t know how DEI is going to impact their business and are reluctant to make the move. Demystifying DEI is a strategy that speaks most to that middle group.

As advocates, we have to figure out how DEI resonates with them. I call it finding a person’s DEI love language—what statistics connect to their belief systems.

CBI: Do you find that people are receptive to your presentations?

MICHAELA BROWN: I haven’t encountered anyone who’s come up to me and said, “I saw you ran this workshop, and I disagree with you.” But sometimes people who want to ask more questions or challenge an aspect of DEI with me just don’t know how to. Whether people are receptive or not, I think it’s always healthy and productive for organizations to participate in discussions about DEI, and lean into the idea of difference and conflict for the sake of learning to collaborate toward a common goal.

CBI: What’s the business case for DEI?

MICHAELA BROWN: I was just reviewing the EEOC 2023 Annual Performance Report (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), and as of 2023 there was $665 million paid out to victims of discrimination based on retaliation, disability, and race. Those are the more recognizable issues. There are also more nuanced issues like affinity bias, beauty bias, and halo bias that organizations have to be mindful of. (See eeoc.gov for more.)

Businesses can have as much as 2.3 times higher cash flow per employee if they have DEI programs, [according to research by Deloitte]. They’re also retaining employees and creating a healthier company culture.

CBI: DEI teaches how to avoid those situations?

MICHAELA BROWN: Yes. For instance, in our company, we always tell people, “If the relationship matters, then have a conversation.” Be aware of the biases and perceptions you show up with, and how they impact the other person. Extend yourself and the other person grace and lean into the issue with collaboration and teamwork as the end goal. DEI programs teach you how to create that space.

What I’ve described speaks to emotional intelligence [EQ] in individuals and the organization. Sensitivity to the perspective of others plus a commitment to workplace relationships are the recipe for handling ignorance or misunderstanding.

Anyone who’s been a part of a family gets it. We are protective over our siblings and children. That same protection that I have over not wanting my son to be denied an opportunity because he’s a young black male, I have that over my employees. I don’t want anyone that works for me here to ever feel like I don’t want them to be here. They’re a part of my work family.

CBI: Are you optimistic that DEI in some form will be accepted in the fitness industry?

MICHAELA BROWN: Some organizations are intentional about creating DEI-enriched cultures. We definitely want to bring awareness and support to companies that are at the budding stages of their DEI journey.

We have built a culture at Urban Adventures Companies. We’ve had to invest time and sometimes money through further training to maintain an inclusive environment, but you have to continue growing as a company.

What’s impactful is not outward facing but inward facing. Even an organization that’s a DEI champion like we are is a work in progress. You can’t expect to reverse years of bad habits in a short time. But everything outward facing becomes a lot easier and a lot more authentic when it comes from an earnest, internal space.

For more on The Perfect Step, visit theperfectstep.com. For more on Urban Adventures Companies, visit uacompanies.com.

This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Club Business International. View the full digital version of the issue online.