Jason is a regular at the Spinal Life Australia Healthy Living Centre, a gym which caters for people with physical disabilities, particularly those with spinal injuries and neurological conditions.

The boxing and martial arts fanatic is working on his strength and endurance to help him live as independently as possible.

Improving the power in both his legs and in his arms allows him to transfer in and out of his wheelchair more easily.

"Jason is predominantly working on his stand transfers," Ernest says. "We've built up his leg strength … and building up his balance as well, so it reduces his risk of falls.

"Jason does have support workers, but not all the time.

Other gyms Jason has attended have not always been as accessible and frequently, not as welcoming.

"I've had some bad experiences," he says.

"People aren't really willing to help as much. You're kind of perceived as more of a burden than an actual person just going to the gym."

Gym design not accessible enough

Griffith University research fellow Dr Georgia Munro-Cook says exercise is important for everyone, and particularly for people with disabilities.

"People with disabilities … tend to have higher rates of mental anxiety, nearly three times the rate of the average non-disabled person," the Paralympic basketball player says.

"Sport and exercise can be really beneficial in improving mental health."

But she says for people with disabilities, that's only if they can readily access sport and exercise programs — significant barriers can be detrimental to their mental wellbeing.

"A lot of gyms are not accessible," Georgia says. "They have steps … or they have doors that are too small," she says.

"And then there are also issues involving … people not understanding disability, not having the people involved that know how to adjust a gym program for someone with a disability. That can make it much harder."

Georgia, who is based at the Menzies Health Institute's Disability and Rehabilitation Research Unit, says people with disabilities engage in sport and exercise at lower rates than their able-bodied peers.

"That's especially so for women with disability," she says.

"Accessibility is one of the main barriers."

'You can modify almost anything'

Jason, of Everton Park, in Brisbane's north, was 11 when he first saw television footage of Muhammad Ali boxing and fell in love with the sport.

But as a school student he was frequently discouraged from taking part in sport.

"You're just going to be sitting around. When I was a child there wasn't anybody like me around to say: ‘You can do this. Don't let anyone tell you, you can't.'

"There might be limitations, there might be things that we need to modify but it doesn't necessarily mean you can't do it."