A woman told BBC Online how she and her family have been left humiliated after door handles at their gym were moved to a height they cannot reach.
Steph Birch, 43, and her two children have a genetic condition called achondroplasia, a type of skeletal dysplasia that affects bone development. Birch is 4ft 2in tall, while her son is 4ft 3in and her daughter is 3ft 10in.
Steph said the three of them were now unable to enter, exit or move around David Lloyd Shrewsbury, after the handles were raised to 150cm, or 4ft 11in.
In a statement, David Lloyd told the BBC while the Shrewsbury club was undergoing refurbishment works, it had raised some door handles as an interim safeguarding measure to protect children. It added the handles would return to standard height once permanent solutions were in place.
However, the firm added: “The pool access door will remain at 150cm as part of our long-term approach to keeping children safe.”
Steph said all the doors at the gym had “been made inaccessible to people with achondroplasia”.
She added: “It means my family and I can no longer independently access the club or move around in the club, which obviously concerns me very greatly over safety.
“It’s not accessible to us, it’s not accessible to wheelchair users, it’s not accessible to a large swathe of the population.
“We want autonomy, so wherever possible we really value our ability to move about independently, and when we see that independence taken away, it is very distressing – it feels humiliating.”
Steph added that she had no desire to give up her membership, but wanted to see change.
She said: “I can think of no other public gym, public swimming pool, that has imposed height-based restrictions in the name of safeguarding. There are other ways to manage this risk. This is basic access rights that have just been removed and it is very painful for us as a family.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government told the BBC that service providers are expected to foresee the requirements of disabled people and the reasonable adjustments that may have to be made for them.
It added that what is “reasonable” would vary depending on the circumstances of the case, such as the practicability of making the adjustment, the cost of the adjustment and the resources available to an organisation.