Fifteen years ago, Rick Klein was an avid bow shooter and bowhunter. Then he lost one arm in an industrial accident.
"Bowhunting was out of my reach," he says. "I was out of the woods for 10 years because I couldn't draw a bow. I got terribly desperate. One day I got my bow down off the wall and laid it on the table and looked at it. I said, 'There's got to be a way.' I took a leather shoelace out of one of my shoes and tied it onto the bowstring and knotted the end of it close to the string. I bit it with my teeth, put an arrow on the bow, pulled it back, and shot the bow. My arrow took off into the yard but chunks of my teeth took off, too."
He decided the knot wasn't a good idea, but he knew he was onto something. Over time he worked with different materials until he came up with a simple nylon tab he sews onto the bowstring.
"I bite it with my rear molars," he says. "I'm able to draw my bow back and I can shoot. I go to the dentist every six months religiously, and he keeps a sharp eye on my teeth. He says there's absolutely no sign of wear." And Klein is not a casual shooter; he shoots between 60 and 100 arrows a day.
According to statistics provided by the Florida Disabled Outdoors Association, sportsmen with disabilities may be divided into three groups: those with significant mobility, visual, hearing, or learning impairment; people who are sixty-five or older; and sportsmen with temporary disabilities due to injury or disease. FDOA says that 49 million people nationwide are classified as disabled.
David Jones is president of the Florida Disabled Outdoors Association, a group dedicated to enabling sportsmen with various handicaps to get back into the outdoors. He has a intimate personal interest in the subject; he was shot in the head by a fellow hunter during turkey season several years ago. The accident left him unable to use his left arm and leg.
"There are all kinds of disabilities, and a wide range of factors that may prohibit or limit a person's ability to do things," he says. "But just about any disability can be overcome by proper planning and use of new equipment and innovative technology. We are trying to provide what we call 'universal access'--opportunities for everyone. We want to make all recreational opportunities open and accessible to everyone, regardless of ability."
Oddly enough, Jones says, your chances of becoming disabled person probably are higher now than ever before, because advances in technology have improved doctors' ability to keep people alive after crippling accidents.
"Look at Christopher Reeve," he points out. "If Superman can become disabled in a heartbeat, it can happen to anyone."
In the past few years, a number of programs and organizations have begun to address the needs of disabled sportsmen. Through the creative use of technology, even people with such severe disabilities as quadriplegia can find ways to do the things they want to do.
A good case in point is Todd, a friend of Rick Klein's, who was in an automobile accident.
"Now he's a C-5 quadriplegic, in a wheelchair," Klein says. "We got him set up with a bow, and he's out there shooting."
Klein and Todd came up with a holding device that's mounted on a wheelchair and holds the bow sideways. Once Todd is in the blind, whoever has helped him get there puts an arrow on the bow and draws it. A locking device holds it at full draw.
Todd is able to move the bow enough to aim it when a deer appears. He then triggers the bow with his mouth.
Another good example is Henry Flores. After he was robbed and shot, Flores was left a paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair. Though he had done a little shooting and fishing prior to the assault, he couldn't be considered an outdoorsman. But he was drawn to the outdoors, and his determination to get out and participate helped fuel his recovery.
Even in a wheelchair, Flores is capable of drawing a bow; his "show-off" bow is set at 125 pounds. He uses it to impress upon his Hunter Education students that "disabled" doesn't mean "unable."
Flores's focus has been finding unique and creative ways to get into the woods. At first, he tied himself into his chair and hauled himself up into a tree with the aid of two block-and-tackles.
"I tied four ropes to the wheelchair," he says. "Then I threw one block and tackle up on a branch and tied the other one in front of me. Then I just pulled myself up. The first time I did it, I was behind the garage at my house in Miami. My mother came looking for me. She about had a heart attack."
Later, he trained his horse Clyde to lie down in front of his wheelchair and then stand up with him after he had crawled into the saddle. His later projects have included a golf cart painted camouflage. Flores throws a piece of military camo fabric over it when he gets the cart to his hunting site. During the fall of 1995, he had already killed three deer from it during the early seasons, before the main part of general gun season ever opened.
The State of Florida, through the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, provides outdoor opportunities for disabled sportsmen and women. One very visible success is the annual mobility-impaired hunts.
That first hunt was held in the late 1980s at Joe Budd Wildlife Management Area, though most participants came from southern Florida. A year later, the Commission held a second hunt, this time at Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area in Osceola County.
"As soon as I heard there was such an hunt out there, I went and attended it," Jones says. "I was real pleased that the Commission had tried to provide an opportunity for people with mobility impairments, but was real disappointed in the actual workings and quality of the hunt."
As a result, he drew up a set of guidelines and a proposal to submit to the Commission, for what he felt an ideal mobility-impaired hunt would provide. At about the same time, he began working on accessibility studies for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He made the same suggestions to them, and the Service hosted a mobility-impaired hunt at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. It was a total success.
From this hunt, the Commission picked up Jones's concept of the mobility-impaired hunt and ran with it. Today the Commission holds hunts on four WMAs.
"I'm real pleased and satisfied that we're reaching out and providing an opportunity for a lot of people who otherwise might not participate or even think that they could participate," Jones says.
The Commission also makes a number of fishing opportunities available to anglers with disabilities. Instead of holding specific events, the Commission has tried to design all its public fishing areas with complete access.
According to Bob Wattendorf, assistant director of fisheries for the Commission, the effort to make fishing opportunities available to disabled anglers dates to the early 1980s.
"It began with the philosophy that we wanted to provide access and opportunity to the greatest number of Florida residents and visitors that we could," Wattendorf says. "It tied into when we began discussing what we could do with Wallop-Breaux federal aid money. A big portion of our focus was 'How can we provide better access and opportunity for the wide diversity of anglers that's out there?' That included looking at demographics and trying to implement an urban pond program."
One of the considerations of the urban pond program was to make bank sites, fishing piers, and boardwalks as accessible as possible to everyone, from youth to the elderly.
Once the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect in 1990, the Commission was bound more specifically by the height of handrails and other, similar criteria. At that point, any new project the Commission initiated had to be barrier-free.
"All our new boat ramps have been built barrier-free, unless there's just an overwhelming reason it can't be done," Wattendorf says. "Virtually all of our urban ponds are that way."
In addition, the Commission has a number of ponds at Teneroc Fish Management Area which are closed to the general public, and have barrier-free access built into them.
Several lakes at Teneroc have state-of-the-art barrier-free boat launching areas, according to Commission officials. Adjacent piers also are barrier-free. A recently completed project provides ADA-designed access from the parking lot all the way to the fishing piers on one lake, including special safety features.
"The fish attractors are brought up close to the access sites on the ponds," Wattendorf says. "Those areas are either used only for educational events or they're open to the disabled public all the time and the rest of the public only gets in when there's a special event."
David Jones recently toured Teneroc with Commission biologists to help evaluate the barrier-free facilities being constructed. He and two companions actually had two bass jump into the boat without being hooked.
"It's the first time that any of had seen anything like that," Jones says. "It was unbelievable."
Although ADA applies equally to all public facilities, operators of saltwater fishing piers have been slower to implement barrier-free access. Most of these facilities are privately owned, and owners may fear that providing access is a high-cost proposition.
"A lot of small to mid-sized marinas have profit margins that are not that great, and they're very concerned about trying to meet ADA standards," says Jan Delany, operations and management consulting manager for technical services for the Department of Environmental Protection. He says the City of Clearwater has taken a very proactive approach to the question of access on its city pier.
"This came about as a result of action by someone who has a disability," Delany says. "Initially the city was concerned that it was going to cost a lot of money, but by working with the individual who insisted that they comply with ADA standards, they were able to come up with some strategies that would work without costing a lot of dollars."
Delany says the modifications went well beyond access to the fishing pier. Now the entire marina--ship's store, restaurant, docks, and other facilities--all meet ADA criteria. In the near future, he expects DEP to use the Clearwater marina as an example to other marina operators, to show that coming into compliance with ADA is neither as difficult nor as costly as they may perceive.
One other program which bears mentioning is the annual Sportsability Day, held in Tallahassee, Florida. For the past two years, volunteers and people with disabilities have gathered at the Florida State University Reservation on Lake Bradford.
"It's a day that a lot of vendors in Tallahassee get together and supply opportunities to use sports equipment," says Louise McCart, fiscal manager with the Center for Independent Living of North Florida in Tallahassee. "We have equipment such as sit-down water skis, canoes with adaptable seating and paddles, kayaks, and hand-pedal bicycles. We have fishing gear with adaptable grips. There are two pontoon boats that give rides around the lake. It's free, and we supply food all day long."
She says more than 200 people attended the first Sportsability Day, in 1994; the number jumped to 400 in 1995.
In 1996, Sportsability Day grew into a two-day event featuring an expo and trade show plus a day of outdoor, hands-on demonstrations.
For all the talk in today's society about hunting and fishing becoming outdated, hunters and fishermen are leading the effort to bring the disabled into the outdoors. Like the Hunters for the Hungry program, such efforts help promote the sportsman's image as a good citizen. More important than that, however, is the way in which we touch other people's lives when we become involved in a program such as the ones mentioned here.
"When you think of wheelchairs, you think of limitations, you think of slavery to the chair," Henry Flores says. "But when you can do things like going up in a tree or riding a horse or going out in the woods and bringing back a deer or a hog--it's freedom, it's independence, it's life."
Resources for Sportsmen with Disabilities
A number of people and organizations work with disabled sportsmen and women to improve their access to and opportunities in the outdoors. Some of them are included here; many of these can refer you to other related resources.
Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, 2661 Executive Center Circle, Tallahassee, FL 32304; 904-488-9070. Has programs on protection and advocacy for the disabled, and a technology assistance program; also makes referrals.
Bow-Pro Archery, 1605 Treanor, Saginaw, MI 48601; 517-752- 8859. Manufacturer of hunting equipment. Works with Rick Klein to develop specialized equipment for use with wheelchairs.
Buckmasters Disabled Chapter, David Sullivan, director of disabled hunter services; 334-215-DEER. Services for disabled whitetail deer hunters.
Coalition to Promote Outdoor Accessible Recreation, c/o Pioneers for the American Dream, 205-876-0806. National organization created in 1994 to improve outdoor accessibility.
Disabled Bowhunters of America, c/o Rick Klein, 11763 Wabasis Lake Drive, Greenville, MI 48838; 616-691-7024. A national network of organizations dedicated to getting disabled bowhunters back into the outdoors.
Fishing Has No Boundaries, Inc., P. O. Box 175, Hayward, WI 54843; 715-634-3185 or 800-243-3462. Organization dedicated to bringing fishing to the disabled.
Florida Disabled Outdoors Association, 2213 Tallahassee Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32308; 904-668-7323. Statewide organization dedicated to promoting and supporting recreation opportunities and outdoor activities for disabled sportsmen, such as the annual "Hands Helping Anglers" fishing event.
Oneida Labs, P. O. Box 68, 8 Jason Drive, Phoenix, NY 13135; 315-695-2727. Manufacturer of bows and other archery equipment. Works with Rick Klein to get archery equipment into the hands of disabled bowhunters.
Safari Club International, 4800 W. Gates Pass Road, Tucson, AZ 85745; 602-620-1220. Sponsors hunts for the disabled and recognizes the achievements of disabled hunters.
Shake a Leg, 2600 South Bayshore Drive, Miami, FL 33133; 305-858-5550. Part of a program from Rhode Island which offers sailing trips along with rehabilitation.
Copyright (c) 1995 Carolee Boyles-Sprenkel. All rights reserved.