Keys Local business helps physically disabled enjoy water activities

BY ANNE-MARGARET SOBOTA

Citizen Staff

Keys News . com : Published on Sunday, March 11, 2007


The waters around Key Largo are a welcome retreat for Capt. Bill Gordon.

The weightlessness and increased mobility he experiences while diving over coral reefs is almost enough to make him forget about the leg he lost six years ago when a defective scuba tank exploded.

And unlike people in the grocery store or post office, the fish and other sea creatures don't stare awkwardly at his missing limb and wonder what happened.

These are the reasons Gordon was compelled to start Admiral Handicapped Scuba Adventures, a nonprofit company that offers scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking and fishing charters for people with physical disabilities.

Admiral Handicapped not only wants to focus on recreational therapy, but on rescuing people who have lost the use of their legs from the doubts that erode their self image. The company's slogan is "Yes, You Can!" and it reflects the attitude of Gordon, 65, and his business partner Allen Fiske, 60, who lost the use of his legs in a car accident in 1980.

Both men endured long recoveries, including arduous physical rehabilitation as well as the mental challenge of having to spend the rest of their lives using a prosthetic leg or a wheelchair.

"It took me a while to face reality," Gordon said. "It took me a year to even get back in the water. ... I'm used to jumping on and off boats. I can't really do that now with my prosthesis."

His own situation illuminated an unmet need for a recreational outlet that would be accessible to people with physical disabilities.

"I said, 'Hell, someone needs to foster this. Someone needs to push it.' And I'm pretty good at that, so I founded this company," Gordon said.

Very few of the company's clients require financial assistance, although Admiral Handicapped provides it if someone needs it.

"Most of the people that come down here are not charity cases," Gordon said. "Most of them are people that don't mind spending a little money ? they want to see someone that will deal with them right. They want someone that knows what they're doing."

Yet the company still faces financial hurdles.

"If you asked me, 'Is this profitable?' I'd have to laugh," Gordon said. "It's not profitable, but it's worthwhile."

The company is trying to raise $30,000 to install wheelchair lifts on its 65-foot aluminum diving boat, Admiral I.

"They cost about $10,000 each and will make the heads, galley and the ocean accessible to our non-ambulatory guests," Gordon said.

The upgrades also will allow Admiral Handicapped to take people out for overnight and multi-day charters.

"It's one thing just to go scuba diving or kayaking for a few hours," Fiske said. "It's another thing when you can go overnight and wake up and have coffee on the deck or watch the stars come out at night."

It goes a long way toward making people feel more capable and independent, he said.

Fiske said the company can't begin to market broadly until the upgrades are complete. Most of its clients now are from South Florida.

"We haven't really gone crazy yet to do that because I don't think we're quite ready for that," he said. "We need to be 100 percent ready. I think we need to raise the money and get the boat totally set before we start broadcasting it around the country."


Helping hands


With help from TIB Bank of the Keys, the group has scheduled a fundraiser for March 29 at the Pilot House Restaurant in Key Largo.

"If we get the kind of support that's available in the Keys ? and I think we have already ? I know we can grow," Gordon said.

Admiral Handicapped already has received one lucky break.

Coral Gables attorney David Bianchi recently donated a 2001 31-foot Laurent catamaran with three 225-horsepower outboard engines, which Gordon and Fiske have named Admiral II.

"This was a major shot in the arm. We can use Admiral II to generate revenue to help offset the costs associated with adapting Admiral I," Gordon said.

Admiral Handicapped also has been helped by Capt. Michael "Mick" Nealey, owner of Tranquil Adventures dive shop in Key Largo. Nealey has worked with people who have physical disabilities for years. He started his own nonprofit branch, Active Disabled Americans, five years ago. It's been a good model for Gordon and Fiske to follow.

He's also let them use his 28-foot pontoon boat while they continue to upgrade Admiral I.

"It seems like the more we help each other, the more business we both get," Nealey said.

Having had polio at age 2, Nealey had many friends with various physical disabilities. So when he decided to open his own business, there was no question that he would make sure they could be included.

"It was mostly my friends saying, 'Hey, if you're going to do a charter business, you better make sure we can get on the boat, too,' " said Nealey, who used crutches for many years. "Eventually I'm probably going to end up in a wheelchair, too."

Nealey said one of the hardest parts of running a nonprofit organization is identifying which sources of funding his business is eligible for, and then applying for them.

"There are a lot of grants out there and corporations that have foundations," he said. "But the details are so involved, I've been having a hard time. I've been looking for a grant writer."

Nealey agrees with Gordon and Fiske that all of the financial difficulties seem worthwhile when he sees the expression on people's faces.

"When I take the people out that have never been out before, they are so excited about doing the simple things that normal people take for granted," he said. "The people are so grateful. I'm targeting that [aspect of my businesses] more than just trying to make money on tourists. It just seems a lot more gratifying."

Nealey takes pride in being able to meet the individual needs of each client ? whether it's designing a special fishing rod wrist attachment for someone who cannot hold a grip, or helping an elderly woman kayak, despite her limited upper body control after losing her hip to bone cancer.

After Nealey wedged her into the kayak with cushions to help hold her up, the woman couldn't contain her excitement as she paddled around in the boat, he said.

Someone later asked him, "How often do you get to make somebody's dream come true?" he said. "I got to thinking, that's the third time this week."


Other outlets


Although Admiral Handicapped and Active Disabled Americans are nonprofits dedicated solely to helping people with disabilities, many other Keys dive shops can accommodate people with physical disabilities.

Atlantis Dive Center has been working with wheelchair-bound people since it opened in Key Largo in 1978, owner Capt. Spencer Slate said. The shop itself is handicapped accessible, as is one of the dive boats.

Slate also is a member of the International Association for Han-dicapped Divers. The organization is active in 17 countries and is dedicated to introducing people with physical handicaps to the underwater world of diving.

Slate is one of the organization's course directors and is licensed to teach other instructors throughout the United States. He also knows how to adapt his scuba instruction to his clients' various physical injuries.

"It's very rewarding to get someone in the water that doesn't have all their faculties, usually through no fault of their own, and introduce them to the underwater world," Slate said. "To see the look on their faces, it's always the same ? amazement.

"So many of them thought that the ocean was totally inaccessible to them."

amsobota@keysnews.com

Citizen reporter Steve Gibbs contributed to this article.



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Keys News . com : Published on Sunday, March 11, 2007