After more than a decade trying to fit into places that weren’t built with accessibility in mind, Wesley Hamilton is opening a private wellness space in midtown with a fresh perspective on healing, growing and thriving — free from judgment, questions and the urge to meet someone else’s expectations, the founder said.
INCLŪSIV Wellness, 4142 Main St., debuted last fall as a membership-based gym designed specifically for individuals with physical disabilities, but welcoming to everyone. The facility offers adaptive fitness, inclusive group training and accessible coworking areas, aiming to create a sense of belonging for all who enter through its doors.
“INCLŪSIV is a space where I don’t have to explain myself, modify everything, or shrink who I am,” Hamilton, a disability advocate and entrepreneur who uses a wheelchair, told Startland News. “It has allowed me to go from adapting to the world to creating a world that finally made space for me and others like me.”
The new wellness facility doubles as a coworking space, he explained, noting a holistic approach that prioritizes health in all aspects of life — in an environment built to see the individual, whatever they might look like.
Hamilton, founder of the Disabled But Not Really Foundation, was shot in January 2012 after what he described as an “everyday situation” turned into a brief dispute with an acquaintance, escalating into violence that left him paralyzed.
Forced to readjust to life in what felt like a new body, Hamilton embarked on a yearslong journey to inspire others with similar challenges.
“After my spinal cord injury, fitness became a huge part of my healing, not just physically, but mentally,” he said. “I went to any gym I could, even when nothing in those spaces was designed for someone like me. I was used to figuring it out, adapting equipment and making things work, because there was no other option.”
Through his foundation, Hamilton began iterating what an inclusive and adaptive wellness space could look like. He experimented with various concepts, ultimately finding a need for a larger space than he first envisioned.
“The vision for INCLŪSIV was mapped out almost 10 years ago,” Hamilton said. “We started small, proved the concept through the nonprofit, and built toward this moment over time. The only real barrier was finding the right location.”
The gym at 4142 Main St. was the piece he’d been searching for, Hamilton said, noting the next step — already underway — is adjusting mindsets about what people with disabilities actually need.
“I hope that what we built here becomes the spark that makes this city rethink what accessibility and community actually look like,” he said.
“People often assume my greatest wish is to walk again. But the truth is, the only cure I seek is the cure to ignorance around disability,” Hamilton explained further in a recent social media post. “Society makes it seem like acceptance only comes if I’m able-bodied, and that mindset is just as damaging as any physical barrier.
“Ignorance is believing you’ll be ‘normal’ forever. Life can shift in an instant. Bodies break, accidents happen, illnesses appear. Disability isn’t rare; it’s a reality that could affect anyone.”
“I also want to be clear: injuries vary for everyone. I know there are things people wish they could have back, and I would never dismiss that. But for me personally, life would be just fine if I could simply move in and out of spaces without struggle, if accessibility wasn’t a constant fight, and if I wasn’t treated like an afterthought.”
“If disability was truly accepted, understood, and embraced, the only cure we’d ever need is better accessibility. Not pity. Not fixing bodies. But fixing environments, systems, and attitudes that continue to exclude us.”
This story was first published by Startland News, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Jocelyn Heckman is a Park Hill South High School journalism student and an intern for Startland News.
