Inclusive by Design: Practical Lessons for Movement Leaders Working With Disabilities
- erineleu
- Feb 5
- 5 min read
This Q&A features Megan Williamson, founder of Ocean Rehab & Fitness, whose work sits at the intersection of rehab, fitness, and disability-informed coaching. In this conversation, Megan shares insight into the real barriers people with physical disabilities face in movement spaces and how movement leaders can move beyond access alone to create environments grounded in dignity, agency, and collaboration.
Q: When you reflect on physical activity spaces today, where do you see the biggest barriers showing up for people with physical disabilities—and how much of that is physical access versus attitudes, assumptions, and fear?
A: When I look at movement spaces today, the biggest barriers usually show up before someone ever walks through the door. Yes, physical access still matters — doors, bathrooms, equipment layout, space for wheelchairs, places to transfer safely. Those things are real.
But what stops people most often is attitudes, assumptions, and fear.
A lot of gyms technically meet accessibility standards, but the culture isn’t accessible. People with physical disabilities are often met with low expectations, over-
protection, or coaches who avoid them altogether because they’re afraid of doing the wrong thing.
There’s also fear on the client side — fear of being stared at, judged, injured, or told that fitness just “isn’t for them.” Many people have already been excluded from PE classes, sports, or gyms earlier in life, so they assume this space will be more of the same.
So even when the ramp exists, if the environment doesn’t feel safe, flexible, and collaborative, people won’t use it.
Q: What are some small but meaningful ways movement leaders can start removing those barriers right now?
A: One of the biggest shifts is intentional planning.
Efficiency doesn’t mean rushing — it means accounting for real bodies and real logistics. For many clients with physical disabilities, setup and transitions take energy. When coaches plan for that instead of treating it like wasted time, sessions stay effective without burning clients out before the work even begins.
Another big one is programming flexibility. If every warm-up, strength block, and conditioning piece assumes standing or floor transfers, you’ve already excluded a lot of people. Instead, think about the goal of the movement — strength, power, endurance — and then choose positions and tools that allow that goal to be trained.
Equipment creativity matters too. Benches, straps, bands, raised mats, wall-supported setups — these aren’t “regressions,” they’re problem-solving tools.
And language matters. Something as simple as asking, “What support do you need to feel successful today?” opens the door to collaboration instead of assumption.
Q: Language plays a powerful role in whether someone feels welcomed or othered. What are some common phrases or assumptions you hear that unintentionally create distance, and what language choices help foster dignity and autonomy instead?
A: A lot of harm comes from phrases that sound positive but actually remove agency.
Things like:
“You’re so inspiring.”
“I don’t even see your disability.”
“Let me know if this is too hard for you.”
Those statements center the coach’s comfort, not the client’s experience.
Language that supports dignity is neutral, curious, and choice-based:
“How does this feel in your body?”
“Do you want to try another option?”
“Here are a few ways we can approach this — what feels best today?”
I generally use person-first language — “people with disabilities” — because I don’t want disability to define someone. But sometimes I’ll talk about disabled bodies when I’m naming how systems and spaces fail to account for real human variation. That’s not about labeling people — it’s about pointing out that the environment is often the limiting factor, not the body.
Q: From a psychological standpoint, how do past rehab experiences, medical trauma, or societal messaging shape a client’s relationship with movement—and how can coaches create environments that rebuild confidence and agency?
A: For many people with physical disabilities, movement has been controlled by other people for a long time.
They’ve been told:
“Don’t do that.”
“That’s unsafe.”
“You’ll make it worse.”
“You should be grateful for what you can do.”
Rehab environments are often necessary, but they’re also compliance-based. You’re being moved, corrected, and monitored. Over time, that can create fear around exploration and intensity.
So when someone gets to a gym, movement doesn’t feel empowering — it feels risky.
Coaches can rebuild confidence by giving clients agency back. That means allowing choice, encouraging exploration, and framing strength and fatigue as information, not danger. When people feel like active participants instead of being managed, their relationship with movement changes completely.
Q: You work on bridging the gap between rehab and fitness. What does that gap actually look like for clients living with physical disabilities, and how can movement professionals better support that transition?
A: The gap is huge — and most people fall straight into it.
In rehab, everything is supervised, structured, and insurance-driven. Then rehab ends, and the message is basically, “You’re discharged — good luck.”
But the gym doesn’t speak the same language. There’s rarely guidance on progression, load management, or how to adapt exercises safely over time. Clients are left wondering:
“Am I allowed to load this?”
“Is this safe for my shoulders?”
“What does progress even look like for me?”
Bridging that gap means understanding why exercises were prescribed in rehab and then translating those goals into real-world strength, capacity, and resilience — not keeping people stuck in rehab exercises forever.
Fitness should be where people build life capacity, not where rehab ends and uncertainty begins.
Q: For coaches who want to work with people with disabilities but are afraid of “doing it wrong,” what mindset shifts have you found most helpful—both for coaches and clients—so fear doesn’t quietly become another barrier to movement?
A: The biggest shift is realizing you don’t need to know everything — you need to be willing to adapt, listen, and problem-solve.
Fear becomes a barrier when coaches think they must be perfect or else they’ll hurt someone. But avoiding people with disabilities because of that fear causes far more harm.
Instead of asking, “What if I mess this up?” ask, “How can I figure this out with this client?”
For clients, the shift is similar. Many have been told for years what they can’t do. Coaches can help by reinforcing that adaptation isn’t weakness, and intensity doesn’t disappear just because movement looks different.
When movement becomes collaborative instead of prescriptive, fear stops being the gatekeeper — for both the coach and the client.
About Megan
Megan is a certified fitness coach through the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the head coach at Ocean Rehab and Fitness. She is also the head instructor for Ocean Rehab and Fitness as well as the co-author of Breaking Barriers: Fundamentals of Training Clients with Physical Disabilities. She offers adaptive training for those that live with spinal cord injuries and other physical disabilities. Ocean Rehab and Fitness’ mission is to bridge the gap between rehab and fitness, making exercise inclusive for everyone no matter what their limitations may be.
Get in touch with Megan:
Website:
IG: @ocean_rehab
Email: