'Door handle height at gym means we can't get in'

A woman says 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 (1.2m) tall, while her son is 4ft 3in and her daughter is 3ft 10in.

Birch 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 said while the Shrewsbury club was undergoing refurbishment works, it had raised some door handles as an interim safeguarding measure to protect children.

It said 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."

However, the mum-of-two told the BBC all the doors at the gym had "been made inaccessible to people with achondroplasia".

"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," she said.

"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."

The gym user said she had no desire to give up her membership, but wanted to see change.

"I can think of no other public gym, public swimming pool, that has imposed height-based restrictions in the name of safeguarding," she said.

"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."

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