A white paper from Pulse Fitness, prepared by Datagonist
Built for Everybody: The Business Case for Inclusive Fitness
Adults with disabilities and their households spend about $24 billion a year on fitness memberships and services, most of it inside existing service areas. This 36-page report sizes the market, shows what adaptive exercisers want from a facility, and lays out a plan for the first 90 days.
- Survey of 2,500 U.S. adults
- Operator and practitioner interviews
- Playbooks for four facility types
- Published November 10, 2026
What the research found
The paper combines CDC and Census data, an original consumer survey and operator interviews. A few of the figures operators will want to know.
spent each year on fitness memberships and services by U.S. adults with disabilities and their households. $7.2 billion of it comes from adults who exercise three or more times a week.
of U.S. adults report a disability, on CDC data. Among adults 65 and older the figure is 43.9%.
Among people who exercise, adults with a disability are more likely than their non-disabled peers to use a fitness facility every week, and more likely to work with a trainer: 32% against 18%.
membership growth over three years at the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids' universally designed Mary Free Bed branch, as reported by Progressive Companies.
Sources: Built for Everybody; Datagonist U.S. Fitness & Wellness Consumer Survey (2,500 adults ages 18 to 79); CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
What's inside
Seven chapters that move from evidence to action, written for the people who run facilities: general managers, fitness directors, program leads and the executives who sign off on the floor.
With a foreword by Jamie Burton, President, USA and Global Development at Pulse Fitness, plus full methodology and references.
- The inclusive fitness market opportunity
Market sizing from a $24 billion total to a $7.2 billion serviceable market, and the three trends expanding it.
- What consumers with disabilities actually want and need
Survey findings on motivations and barriers, and on how adaptive exercisers use facilities and trainers.
- Past the compliance checkbox
Where the ADA stops and Universal Design begins, and what each means on the gym floor.
- What's already working
Practitioner perspectives from Ben Clark of Adapt to Perform and Tim Cook of the Adaptive Training Foundation.
- Built for members
Case studies in operator-led inclusion from YMCA East Surrey and the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids.
- Your market, your move
One-page playbooks for commercial clubs, parks and recreation and nonprofit centers, hospital-based wellness centers, and university recreation.
- Making the case
Four business outcomes and the first 90 days: staff culture, floor readiness, online transparency and community partnerships.
From the people doing the work
Four practitioners and operators were interviewed for the report. Three of them, in their own words.
When you find somewhere that works well, it's so rare that you don't go anywhere else.
Accessibility gets people through the door, but inclusion makes them want to come back.
Universal Design helps us build a higher, more stable member base because whole families see a place for themselves.
A playbook for the floor you run
Chapter 6 gives each type of facility a one-page business case: the strategic drivers, the infrastructure and execution, and the financial and social return.
Commercial health clubs
Differentiation and retention in a crowded market, with household memberships that follow the member.
Parks, recreation and nonprofit centers
Community health mandates, funder expectations, and access for the whole neighborhood.
Hospital-based wellness centers
The bridge from rehabilitation to long-term independence, and the referral relationships that make it work.
University recreation
Campus-wide inclusion and wellness for students, faculty and staff.
About the research
Datagonist fielded an online survey of 2,500 U.S. adults ages 18 to 79 between October 24 and November 6, 2025, oversampling adults with disabilities and weighting the results to the adult population. Four interviews with practitioners and operators followed in September and October 2026, alongside CDC and U.S. Census Bureau data and published academic research.
Pulse Fitness commissioned and funded the research. Datagonist prepared the paper independently. Survey findings are self-reported and the interviews are qualitative; the methodology chapter sets out the limits in full.
Media inquiries: Jamie Burton, jamie.burton@pulsefitness.com, or Melissa Rodriguez, melissa@datagonist.co.
Datagonist
An independent market and consumer research firm serving the fitness and wellness industry, founded by Melissa Rodriguez after more than 20 years in industry research, including leading global research at IHRSA (now the Health & Fitness Association) and market intelligence at Mindbody.
datagonist.coPulse Fitness
Designing and manufacturing commercial fitness equipment in the United Kingdom since 1980. Pulse engineered its first inclusive line in 1997 and helped write the UK's original inclusive equipment standards in 2002. Pulse Fitness USA is the dedicated U.S. operation.
Inclusive by Design · Adaptive & Inclusive equipmentRead the full report
36 pages, free. Download Built for Everybody and start with the playbook for your facility.