Double the price for disabled members: A “disability tax” on gym membership fees

A gym (not related to the article) / Lee Joon-heon

A, a female athlete in her twenties who is also visually impaired, asked for some information on a one-year membership at a private gym in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul on August 24. The employee at the gym told her that she might not be able to adjust and that she could be uncomfortable when working out with other members present. He also said that people with physical disabilities could only sign up for the monthly subscription. The gym in question provided a free membership extension for one month when a client signed up for twelve months, but it charged 60,000 won for a monthly subscription. A would have to pay almost 30,000 won more each month.

When A called the gym’s head office and protested, they told her that the company had no separate regulation on the contract period for disabled people. The gym also demanded that A be accompanied by a certified activity assistant and consent to not holding the gym legally accountable when she suffered unavoidable damages while she worked out, when joining the gym. A eventually went in search of another gym.

On August 30, A said, “Going through this process made me suffer immense mental stress.” She argued, “The conditions didn’t change even if I signed a written pledge to have someone accompany me. It was a violation of a disabled person’s right to leisure and health and right as a consumer.”

It was also revealed that some private gyms refused to provide discounts to disabled people or provided memberships only on condition that they also pay for the assistant’s membership. These actions all deprive disabled people of their right to exercise and may violate the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities.

Yu Gyeong-tak (31), who is also visually impaired, said he was also forced to pay a fee that was not charged to people without disabilities. Yu tried to join a private gym in Eunpyeong-gu in March 2021. The gym staff told Yu that for him to join the gym, he needed an activity assistant for disabled people accompany him for safety reasons. The gym also charged him twice the membership fee to cover for the assistant as well.

Yu told the gym that the assistant would only help him and not work out, but the gym employee said he still had to pay the membership fee if he wanted to enter the gym. Two other gyms near his house out right refused to let Yu join. In the end, Yu barely managed to join a gym run by the local government. It was located at an hour’s distance by public transportation from his home.

Yu said, “I often hear stories about how other people with disabilities were also forced to pay the subscription fee of their assistants,” and added, “I think they are excessively restricting the disabled people’s right to exercise using safety as an excuse.”

People with disabilities who can’t afford to go to private gyms use sports facilities or welfare centers for the disabled operated by the central or local governments, but there are not that many. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as of last December, there were 31 sports facilities for the disabled nationwide and only 263 welfare centers for the disabled that had facilities to work out, such as a gym.

Im Han-gyeol, an attorney of the Gyeonggi Research Institute for the Rights of the Disabled, said that Yu’s case, in which he was forced to pay the subscription fee of his assistant, could be a violation of the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities. According to the act, “applying disability-blind standards that cause persons with disabilities to be unfairly treated without justifiable grounds, despite the absence of explicitly unfavorable treatment, such as restriction, exclusion, segregation or denial” is a discriminatory act. Refusing to accommodate assistants for the disabled without justifiable grounds is also recognized as discrimination.

Im argued, “For people with disabilities, going to the gym itself requires immense courage. If they are faced with a higher fee, it could lead to other problems, intimidating any willingness to participate in social activities and isolating them,” and said, “From the perspective of welfare, the central and local governments need to increase public sports facilities for the disabled.”