How one business created a great accessible space
Evolve Fitness in Feilding strives to be a gym inclusive of everyone, and it's helped amputee Shaz Dagg achieve her goals.
August 11th, 2022
One Feilding gym is demonstrating how an inclusive attitude goes a long way to creating a great accessible space.
Evolve Fitness, owned by Ross and Christine Darragh, prides itself on catering to people of all abilities.
Shaz Dagg, an above-elbow amputee, says ever since she first walked through the door she's always felt welcome.
“I'm part of this whole facility. I'm not treated any different,” she says.
Ross says having a culture of putting people first has always been important.
“It's about talking to people and making them feel like this is a place they want to be, and this is their community as much as it is ours,” he says.
Shaz says the gym is spacious and accessible to anyone using a mobility device such as a wheelchair.
She says the staff have accommodated her by adapting the equipment so it can be used with one arm.
The facility also has mobility parking and accessible bathrooms.
Shaz says even though she's happy to take care of herself, other gym-goers don't hesitate to offer to help her if she's doing something like loading weights up onto a machine.
“They don't wait to see if I'm gonna do it, or if I can do it. They will come and offer first.
“It's honestly just a caring environment,” she says.
To find out more about Evolve Fitness, and find other facilities that meet your access needs, check out our Accessible Places.
It's inclusive to all of us
whether you're in a wheelchair
whether you're one-winged
whether you're a below-knee amputee
We've always wanted to allow people to get results, and that's all people
and it doesn't matter what their abilities are
Hi, I'm Shaz Dagg and I'm from Feilding in the mighty Manawatu
and I'm an above-elbow amputee recently of two and a half years ago
Hi, I'm Ross Darragh and between my wife and myself we own Evolve Fitness here in Feilding
From the day I came in I've never been so welcomed
I'm... I'm part of this whole facility
I'm no different. I'm not treated any different
With our staff, um, again one of the things we started really early on
is it's gotta be around people
It's um, about talking to people and making them feel like this is
a place they want to be and this is their community as much as it is ours
So our staff, again being available on the floor
They can get around and help with, um
assisting in their exercise form
and then also just a matter of talking to people
The more we find out about them and what sort of barriers they're facing
to help them exercise regularly the more we can kind of
offer assistance and advice around how to combat that
I turned to sport moreso
to help me through this
I always believe you need to find something that you really love and you're passionate about
and your whole outcome, and your whole outlook will be positive
I became New Zealand's first, um, paratriathlete
Um, and then from there on I went and done the Oceanias
and came home with my first gold medal... um...
and from there I went over and done some World Cup events
Um, and had some awesome journeys
Just can't take away
the journeys I've had, the experiences I've had
and it's all because of one accident
So a lot of the equipment is using two arms
They've adapted different equipment and different hand pieces
so that I can use singly
but still work on the same parts of the body as if you were with two arms
It's awesome spacious area
um, you know, so wheelchair friendly for anybody that can come in
Everybody's got their space, plenty of space
Nobody's gonna bang into one another
and that's something that I always need to know, that somebody's not going to knock my arm
We're fortunate enough that we've got a centre here which is big enough
to be able to space things out
and then offer opportunities for everybody to be able to... to work out
You're not look at any differently
People will see me going over to a piece of equipment
and they will instantly come up and ask if they can assist
me in lifting a weight up on to that piece of equipment or
They don't wait to see
if I'm gonna do it
or if I can do it
they will come and offer first
You know, they will take that of you not feeling
uncomfortable... that uncomfortableness away
They don't have that here, there's none of that
It's, it's honestly just a
um
caring environment, yeah
Is this page helpful?
