This Organization is Helping People With Disabilities Reach Their Fitness Goals

For most people, keeping fit looks like lifting weights at the gym, running at dusk, or partaking in a HIIT class. However, not everyone possesses the ability to participate in such activities. 

15% of the world’s population has a disability of some kind. And these individuals also have health and fitness goals. So what if they can’t use a treadmill to achieve them?!

Wesley Hamilton had never been focused much on his wellness, but a tragic incident opened his eyes to how those with disabilities shouldn’t be held back from achieving their own fitness goals. At the age of 24, Hamilton was shot multiple times and sustained a spinal cord injury, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. 

The Missouri native had been overweight at the time, which resulted in health complications. Although he was prescribed 21 hours of bed rest, he used those 3 remaining hours to focus on nutritional eating and discover adaptive fitness. This led to Hamilton founding an organization called Disabled But Not Really.

“I’m really changing the perception and the paradigm of what people think of when they think of disability,” the 34-year-old says. “I would always say, if I saw a guy with no legs climbing rope, you think I’m going to make excuses? Even though I have my legs, and they don’t move, there’s a different amount of mental strength you have to deal with from that perspective, waking up every day.”

DBNR launched a fitness challenge called #HelpMeFit in which athletes with disabilities participate in one-on-one training sessions, small group workouts, group fitness classes at a local gym, as well as nutrition seminars and mental health and gratitude check-ins. 

“Fitness is just a great way to help anyone reach a milestone that they didn’t think they could reach.”