Disabled but Not Really

10/14/2026

This is about more than fitness.

After the Help Me Fit Challenge, participants reported a 135% average increase in life satisfaction and an 81% average increase in confidence with daily tasks, productivity, and leisure.

Strength changes how you move through the world.

Source: DBNR Help Me Fit Challenge participant survey, 17 participant cohort

disabledbutnotreally.org

10/12/2026

Strength you can measure.

In one 17 person Help Me Fit Challenge cohort:
• 100% completed harder transfers
• Force production rose 75% on average
• Strength rose 54%
• Endurance rose 22%

Transfers are the moves that make daily life possible, like getting from a chair to a car or a bed. Save and share.

disabledbutnotreally.org

10/12/2026

Joy. Freedom. Movement. ☀️

Lady Waters found all three through the Help Me Fit Challenge. Fitness gave her more than strength. It gave her the freedom to move through life on her own terms and the joy of rediscovering what her body can do.

This is why we do the work. We're raising $50,000 to bring the program back in 2027 and serve 10 more participants. Every $5,000 sponsors one person's full journey.

👉 Help us serve 10 people in 2027. Donate or sponsor a participant at disabledbutnotreally.org/help-me-fit-challenge

Share this with someone who deserves more joy in their life. 💛

10/09/2026

+54%. That's the average strength improvement in one Help Me Fit Challenge cohort, and one participant improved overall strength by 152%.

Real training. Real coaching. Real results.

Help us run the next cohort: disabledbutnotreally.org

Source: DBNR Help Me Fit Challenge outcomes, 17 participant cohort

10/09/2026

Hope hits different when you find your people. 💙

DJ Derico came looking for a workout and found a community. A place where people get it, push each other, and show up for one another. That's the heart of the Help Me Fit Challenge: fitness is the tool, but hope and community are what change lives.

We're raising $50,000 to bring the program back in 2027 and serve 10 more participants. Every $5,000 sponsors one person's full journey.

👉 Help us serve 10 people in 2027. Donate or sponsor a participant at disabledbutnotreally.org/help-me-fit-challenge

Tag someone who's part of your community. 🙌

10/07/2026

10/07/2026

Giving back never tasted so good!

🚨 Mark your calendars

Stop by Chipotle for our fundraiser and they’ll donate 25% of the proceeds to support the cause.

🌯Click here for more details:

https://tinyurl.com/2ycj724u

10.21.2026, 5:00pm - 9:00pm

10/07/2026

Nearly half (47%) of adults with disabilities who are able to exercise get no aerobic activity at all. And inactive adults with disabilities are 50% more likely to report a chronic disease.

Access to coaching, equipment, and community changes that. That's why DBNR exists.

Help us keep the doors open: disabledbutnotreally.org

Source: CDC Vital Signs, Disability and Physical Activity

10/05/2026

For a decade, wheelchair users on Medicare who wanted a titanium or carbon fiber frame have had to cover the entire cost themselves.

That's changing. On Sept. 30, the Senate passed the Choices for Increased Mobility Act (H.R. 1703). It cleared the House in July, and now it heads to the president's desk.

Once it becomes law, Medicare must create separate billing codes for carbon fiber and titanium frames by Jan. 1, 2028, so you pay only the difference for an ultralight frame. It costs taxpayers nothing.

This happened because of you. Advocates carried this bill into congressional offices at Roll on Capitol Hill, then kept the pressure on with messages to their senators.

Thank you to Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Rep. John Joyce, R-Pa., for leading the way.

We'll keep you posted as the bill is signed and as Medicare builds the new codes. Follow along for updates. And in the meantime, join our Grassroots Advocacy Network to continue the momentum: https://unitedspinal.org/grassroots-advocacy-network/