George Washington Rec Center — Local services in Mount Vernon

Extremely disappointed by Staff’s Lack of Disability Awareness .I’ve been bringing my two children (ages 10 and 7) to the George Washington indoor pool for years. We love the pool and usually come during off-hours when it’s quiet. Both of my kids started swim lessons here at 6 months old and are strong swimmers. My 7-year-old son has profound autism. He is nonverbal and requires close supervision. He’s been coming here his entire life.As we entered the women’s locker room, a woman sitting at the tables near the front said to me, “You might want to wait,there’s a naked woman in there.” I found that unnecessary — it’s a locker room. Inside, we went straight to the lockers to drop our stuff, removed our shorts (we were already in swimsuits), and started walking toward the pool.That’s when a staff member stopped me and said my son looked too old to be in the women’s locker room and needed to use the men’s. I calmly explained that he has autism and can’t be separated from me. She blocked my path and said, “I understand, but he doesn’t look it. He just looks too old to be in here.”That comment was completely inappropriate. Not all disabilities are visible, and suggesting a child doesn’t “look disabled enough” is offensive. He is seven years old. Would you send your 7-year-old into a public locker room alone? We were in there for maybe two minutes. The pool was almost empty, and we weren’t using the showers.This facility offers adaptive services yet this situation showed a serious lack of staff training and empathy. Just because someone else complains doesn’t mean a staff member needs to escalate things without context. We’ve always trusted this pool and appreciated the kind lifeguards and front desk staff, but this experience was disappointing and...

Nice facility. Not elegant or fancy, but serviceable and clean. The staff are very friendly and helpfull. It's primarily a swimming facility, but a small number of treadmills are available. You can generally get a lane w/o having to share, but sometimes lanes are limited due to swimming classes and High School and Masters team practice. Bonus - the locker rooms have saunas! Costs 25 cents for a locker though. Fairly pricey ($74/mo) compared to commercial gyms, but you also have access to all Fairfax County's other 10 Rec centers, some of which have considerable additional features (weigh rooms, running tracks,...

The neighbors need to take-up a collection to purchase a $5000 sun room extension onto the current concrete pad in order for the weights and sit-up equipment to be moved from the lobby. I am surprised Fairfax County has not taken actin to improve the facility. The neighborhood property taxes should be sufficient to improve the service so we are not forced to go sign-up at Gold's...