Strength, Cycling and Screen Readers

Peloton is committed to providing the best, most immersive, and accessible experience for our Members. Our core values are putting our Members first and empowering people to be the best version of themselves. Everyone has different fitness abilities and ambitions, and we strive to provide a variety of classes and content that empower each and every one of our Members to reach their personal goals.

For Members who are blind or have low vision, the Peloton Bike and Bike+ feature Google TalkBack screen reader technology. Screen readers use audio announcements to assist users in reading text and image content, and navigating through pages. In Peloton classes, the screen reader empowers members with vision disabilities to stay on top of their metrics as they take classes. Our research team here at Peloton has led a number of usability and holistic experience research studies with blind and low vision Members to continue to improve upon their experience.

We spoke with five amazing Members with vision disabilities who consistently show up for themselves and others and accomplish great things in fitness and in life.

If you’d like to provide feedback on any of Peloton’s accessibility features or participate in future usability testing with our research team, please reach out to accessibility@onepeloton.com for more information.

Aaron U.

What is your personal workout philosophy?

Have fun, but challenge yourself on a daily basis.

How has Peloton impacted your relationship with your physical and mental health?

It’s been very good. It gets me up and moving so that I feel good, I’m able to have more flexibility and more energy, and mentally it just improves my outlook and focus. Being active helps me have a good, positive mindset and outlet. It also helps me physically to feel better.

Can you think of a time when an instructor said something that really stuck with you?

Robin Arzón said, “We don’t give ourselves enough positive reinforcement for the things that we do. Take the time for yourself in order to be able to give yourself that positive reinforcement, so that you can be there for others.”

What’s something that’s surprised you about Peloton?

The variety and the good descriptions—as far as being able to follow what needs to be done, when you’re riding when to get out of the saddle, when to get back in the saddle, what your form should be. I appreciate how descriptive the instructors are during class. The floor exercises have been good as well, they’ve been descriptive and easy to follow. On many of the classes, I’ve been able to do the class independently without being aided by someone else telling me what’s going on.

What accessibility efforts that Peloton has made have the most impact on you?

Adding Google TalkBack technology to the Bike+ helps me access the class, start the class, pause the class, and see the metrics during class—this is a game-changer! The App is also good for accessibility to be able to stack classes and set them up there, too, to then go to the Bike+ and take the classes. I also enjoy the Auto-Resistance feature on the Bike+, which changes the resistance automatically for me during a ride, so I don't have to reach down and change it. However, if the resistance needs a bit of adjusting, I can always do that on my own.

Alie G.

What is your personal workout philosophy?

I think movement is medicine. I move my body because it makes my whole self feel better.

How has Peloton impacted your relationship with your physical and mental health?

Before working out with Peloton, I would just run all the time…miles and miles and miles. Peloton encourages me to workout in different ways, which allows me to find so much more joy in the process of moving my body. When I work out with Peloton, I see it as me working with my body, instead of against it. I think I am most surprised at how Peloton has shifted my relationship with mental health. I used to use exercise as a way of control or to tune things out, but now I am learning how to use it as a way to be fully embodied and present!

Can you think of a time when an instructor said something that really stuck with you?

I have two. One is Jess King: "You were enough from the beginning. You are enough now.” Another is Ally Love saying, “You came here to get stronger, not smaller.” For a long time, I used exercise to try and control my body. I knew I couldn’t fix my disability, but maybe I could “fix” the rest of my body. But Peloton has helped me change this relationship and this dialogue. It helps me tap into inner strength and my own authentic voice. A voice that embraces and celebrates my enough-ness as a person with a disability. I don’t get on the Peloton Bike as an attempt to make myself smaller anymore. I get on the Bike to celebrate another day getting to take up space on this Earth!

What’s something that’s surprised you about Peloton?

No other fitness program I have been a part of has been so empowering. Peloton never body shames, talks about “shrinking your waistline” or fitting into that smaller size. Peloton empowers me to boss up and do the work, to challenge myself exactly where I am, to listen to my body… and I am thinking all of this while sweating, smiling, laughing, and often wishing I could throw glitter mid-workout.

What accessibility efforts that Peloton has made have the most impact on you?

For someone like me who has low vision and is legally blind, Peloton is a huge gift. I cannot see the instructor in a big group workout class, but with Peloton, they are right by my side. If I am working out on the App, I can walk right up to my TV screen or iPad screen and see the instructor to the best of my ability. Peloton allows me to work out safely and confidently. I am so grateful for this. Lots of folks with low vision do not work out because of a lack of safety or fear, and Peloton removes this barrier for me. I am just so thankful.

Denna L.

What is your personal workout philosophy?

Working out allows me to align my physical body, with my mental precision, which enhances my emotional resilience, and gives me access to ultimately a solid and peaceful spirit. If I’m able to be consistent with connecting my mind, body, spirit, and soul; I can continually improve who I am as a blind Black woman who is a mom, friend, daughter, NASA Project Manager, and citizen. I don’t know if I’ll ever achieve a particular physique, but my hope is that I can feel strong, confident, graceful, and vibrant. I also want to establish a model for actively living a healthy life that wasn’t available to me as a child.

How has Peloton impacted your relationship with your physical and mental health?

I notice that when I’m consistent, my mind is sharp, I’m balanced in how I approach parenting my beautiful son, and I’m able to flow with the challenges that come my way. I feel as though I’m learning what it means to have a healthy well-being in my 40s, because I now have a community of blind people and black women who are striving for the same thing. In a way, we are living off of each other's synergy and passion for what it means to be able to live out our dreams, passions, and goals. As a single mom by choice, I am learning that I need to put my needs as a woman on the priority list, in order to be here for my son, who will inevitably face life’s challenges as a young black man. I hope and pray that if I can impart anything to him, is that he can with preparation, a bit of hustle, and a tender heart, he can achieve his own dreams—whatever they may be.

Peloton has allowed me to be consistent, made exercise fun, and removed the excuses I would use to get out of working out. When the Bike is sitting there looking at me, then I am standing in my own way. I really appreciate that the Peloton community celebrates weight loss and non-scale victories equally, whether it’s consistency, self care, feeling good or pushing each other on.

Can you think of a time when an instructor said something that really stuck with you?

Each of the instructors speaks to a different part of me. For example, Alex Toussaint is my crush and can get me going with the “1, 2, 1, 2” count or “Inhale Confidence, Exhale Doubt.” Robin invokes that hustle in me when she says, “We eat hustle for breakfast.” Ally Love really speaks to the doubt I’ve struggled with as a single mom by choice or my tendency to compare myself with her statement, “Don’t compare your chapter one with someone else’s chapter 6."

If I’m struggling with the injustices of the world whether it’s a access barrier I’m facing as a blind professional or feeling fatigued from knowing people of color struggle for even the smallest achievements, I go to Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts for that peaceful retreat, knowing that she carries a presence where I can feel seen and acknowledged for what I bring to the mat. And when I’m not living up to what my body can give me, I think of Robin when she says, “Add it back." And Jess Sims when she says, "You’re allowed to be a work in progress and a masterpiece at the same damn time.”

What’s something that’s surprised you about Peloton?

Initially, I thought Peloton was an elitist group of people who didn’t look like me. I’ve been in plenty of spaces where that is the case. But there is enough room and space within the Peloton community for all of who clip in to feel the high from a good workout but can access the safety in spaces where our challenges need to be seen like the Black Girl Magic community, Blind Peloton Users, or for cancer survivors. It’s there, and that’s the beauty of it.

What accessibility efforts that Peloton has made have the most impact on you?

I love the fact that accessibility is built into the Bike’s classes with the TalkBack [Google technology] screen reader. So many of the products on the market, place accessibility as an afterthought or not thought of at all. I love that I don’t have to purchase anything extra just to turn the Bike on and clip in. I also love that with so many exercise options, I am not constrained to just using the Bike.

Sue P.

What is your personal workout philosophy?

Get it done! However I'm feeling before a workout, I know I will feel great when it's done. Working out has to be a habit, so I've made my Peloton workouts habitual. Every morning, I wake up, put on my workout clothes, feed and walk my Seeing Eye Dog and my retired Seeing Eye Dog, come back to my apartment, fill my water bottles, and ride the Peloton. It is now such an ingrained habit that when I can't do it for any reason, everything feels off.

How has Peloton impacted your relationship with your physical and mental health?

Being active, especially with Peloton, has an enormous positive impact on my emotional and physical well-being. Emotionally, it de-stresses me and gives me a sense of calm, confidence and pride. Physically, being active with Peloton makes me feel stronger, fitter and generally healthier. Going blind is scary. Being active helps alleviate or at least reduce the fear and gives me the courage to take on the challenges of vision loss.

Peloton has made me care more deeply about my health. I want to be stronger, so I can do more on the Peloton because doing more makes me feel fantastic! It also made me feel proud and accomplished in terms of what I've done for my physical and mental strength. And this makes me feel less self-conscious about my vision loss, in particular, and my whole self, in general.

Can you think of a time when an instructor said something that really stuck with you?

So many times! Just yesterday, Bradley Rose talked about the freedom we feel when we stop worrying about what others think. Cody often says things that inspire me and stick with me. Part of his inspiration comes from how genuine, vulnerable and openly flawed he is and how he models those characteristics. He also models doing what makes us feel good whether it's continuing to wear skinny jeans, despite fashion criticism on TikTok, because it makes our "ass look good" or eating what we enjoy. One of his xoxo rides, he offered a list of endings to this phrase, "you did not get through a pandemic to...." in a funny, lighthearted way, his comments remind me to not put up with bad behavior in relationships.

I love the statement: "Movement is medicine" because it is so true. I'm not sure if Robin originated that statement, but I've definitely heard it from her. Robin also said, "You can't pour from an empty cup," which is very true. I also love Denis' advice: "If you can't get out of it, get into it." (Admittedly, I repeat this to my adult children often and they do NOT appreciate it.) I think it was also Denis who said, "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right."

What’s something that’s surprised you about Peloton?

How obsessed I became with it! How inclusive it is also surprised me. As a company, it doesn't seem to just want its users to sign up and pay, but to have a huge selection and diversity of workouts. It seems like it really wants to make the world healthier, and it doesn't want to leave anybody out. As someone with a disability who often feels marginalized, that was shocking. Finally, the sense of community in the Peloton experience is real, which I never expected, given that I'm riding alone in my apartment.

What accessibility efforts that Peloton has made have the most impact on you?

The TalkBack [Google technology] screen reader, as well as the white on black display on Bike+, help me see and interact with the tablet.

Becky J.

What is your personal workout philosophy?

Find fun in movement and listen to your body!

How has Peloton impacted your relationship with your physical and mental health?

Being active is and has always been my stress relief. When I need to clear my mind, a workout always helps. Peloton has helped me go through a some challenging health conditions, including progressively losing my eyesight. The mental tax of literally watching yourself lose your vision has been understandably devastating. With movement being my stress relief and no longer being able to drive to easily get to the gym, the convenience of Peloton has positively impacted my mental and physical health through these challenges. I can workout any day or time. Also, having so many options in types of workouts, intensity and duration, I can find the workout that best fits how my body is feeling that day.

Can you think of a time when an instructor said something that really stuck with you?

“You don’t have to. You get to." - Jess Sims.

Sometimes we put pressure on ourselves to ensure workouts happen or feel guilty when they don’t happen. However, the reality is we are fortunate to have bodies that allow us to workout. We need to honor that sentiment.

What’s something that’s surprised you about Peloton?

Honestly, how much I love my Peloton. I wasn’t a fan of cycling classes at gyms, so I wasn’t sure how much I would like using my Peloton Bike. My concerns were outweighed by the convenience of having an effective workout option at home during the pandemic, and I am so glad I bought a Peloton Bike! I recommend it to everyone.

What accessibility efforts that Peloton has made have the most impact on you?

One of the reasons I choose Peloton was their dedication to innovative accessibility options. While I don’t need many of the accessibility options yet, I know Peloton will continue to serve me well as my eyesight worsens. I went with the Bike+ for the larger screen, but am most excited about the built-in Google TalkBack screen reader.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities