Gym

Hey,

I know I'm months behind but currently fighting with PureGym to make the reasonable adjustment to not play music in the gym as it makes it unaccessible for multi disabilities, not just autism.

I've had multi sensory overloads, meltdowns and it triggers flare ups of multi health conditions even though I wear BOTH noise cancelling headphones and Loops. It still causes me pain, exhaustion and cognitive impairment.

As it does cost them anything, it's physically do able and doesn’t put anyone else at a disadvantage. Therefore, legally the are obligated to do it.

If you look around every pure gym, you will see literally about 98% of users are wearing headphones, so the majority are not using it/trying to block it out.

However, currently they have dismissed me and now ignoring me.

Even though their own advertising thing and policies are 'Everybody's Welcome', 'inclusive' and 'accessible' and I've pointed out they are breaking the law by refusing to do so.

I am currently seeking pre legal advice first to see if I can get an organisation to addressthem about it. I will seek legal if I need to.

I am autistic but also a professional in dance and movement spaces so I have a drive to make these spaces more accessible and safe for us.

If I make any progress I will let you know as PureGym is nationwide. 

If anyone wants to make any comments, even if it's just something you wish to see, your experiences, other things you'd wish they'd consider, give a response to this post. It might end up being very helpful for the case, if I have to take it that far.

Hopefully, we can people live up to their inclusive policies, rather then them just throw it around like a hollow social media buzz word.

Hey,

I know I'm months behind but currently fighting with PureGym to make the reasonable adjustment to not play music in the gym as it makes it unaccessible for multi disabilities, not just autism.

I've had multi sensory overloads, meltdowns and it triggers flare ups of multi health conditions even though I wear BOTH noise cancelling headphones and Loops. It still causes me pain, exhaustion and cognitive impairment.

As it does cost them anything, it's physically do able and doesn’t put anyone else at a disadvantage. Therefore, legally the are obligated to do it.

If you look around every pure gym, you will see literally about 98% of users are wearing headphones, so the majority are not using it/trying to block it out.

However, currently they have dismissed me and now ignoring me.

Even though their own advertising thing and policies are 'Everybody's Welcome', 'inclusive' and 'accessible' and I've pointed out they are breaking the law by refusing to do so.

I am currently seeking pre legal advice first to see if I can get an organisation to addressthem about it. I will seek legal if I need to.

I am autistic but also a professional in dance and movement spaces so I have a drive to make these spaces more accessible and safe for us.

If I make any progress I will let you know as PureGym is nationwide. 

If anyone wants to make any comments, even if it's just something you wish to see, your experiences, other things you'd wish they'd consider, give a response to this post. It might end up being very helpful for the case, if I have to take it that far.

Hopefully, we can people live up to their inclusive policies, rather then them just throw it around like a hollow social media buzz word.

KerryHollandMovement said:

Even though their own advertising thing and policies are 'Everybody's Welcome', 'inclusive' and 'accessible' and I've pointed out they are breaking the law by refusing to do so.

I don't think this is how the inclusivity thing is supposed to work.

You can't say I need this element (eg no music) and insist they make it happen. What about others who like the music - your action would deny them this pleasure while they work out.

Take it a tiny bit further - if the noise of the machines and weights clanking and people grunting or breathing heavily was too much for you, would you insist this all be stopped too? This is just to illustrate that it is an unreasonable thing to do.

I believe the inclusiveness is where they make "reasonable" accommodations for you - lowering the volume of the music for example is reasonable. The same goes for wheelchair users - a reasonable accommodation would be to install step free access etc but if there were machines they could not access then is it reasonable to expect them to get rid of these at considerable expense to choose other machines they can access?

It sounds like you have extreme sensitivity to noise so I'm sorry this is causing you problems with using spaces where noise is played.

Do you have music when you dance? By your suggestion this would be prohibited since it may cause problems for another sensitive individual not in the class (since sound carries). This would also be taken into consideration as to whether the music ban is reasonable to ask.

The upshot of it is more a reality check - I appreciate the problems you face here but I think the most effective solution would be to find effective sound deadening earwear (construction site ear protecters perhaps) rather than going on a crusade that will be doomed to failure.