Casa Colina empowers people with disabilities with boating day on Alamitos Bay

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Alamitos Bay in Long Beach is regularly full of sailors enjoying the breeze. Thanks to a special program, a few more sailors, who might not typically get the chance, were able to get out on the water for a day.

Casa Colina's Outdoor Adventures and Wheelchair Sports program aims to create unique opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in new experiences and recreational activities.

Its Beat the Heat sports camp set sail for a morning in Long Beach -- giving some the opportunity to get out on the water for the first time in years.

"People with disabilities are a minority. They don't have accessibility to things like this all around the U.S.," said Michelle Del Real, a recreation therapist with Casa Colina.

Casa Colina's program focuses on abilities over disabilities, creating opportunities that offer hope.

Sebastian Yaghoubi, who suffered a spinal cord injury in 2018, went from kayaking a couple days a week to not at all. Until the Beat the Heat camp, he hadn't been on the water in seven years.

"You don't think you can go outside and do all the things you did before, but doing things like this, it's like, maybe I can. It's, oh, I can do that, I can do that," said Yaghoubi. "You find out all the things you can do as opposed to thinking about the things you can't."

For therapists like Del Real, these are the moments that make everything worth it.

"To realize that it's been years since he could get back to doing something or trying something in a different format than what he was doing before is -- it's insane," said Del Real.

Working in a program like this gives her a sense of purpose.

"I think I was placed here. It was just God's plan," Del Real said, choking up.

Then, there's participants like Sonia, who's recovering from a back injury from two years ago.

"What Casa Colina really provides for us is that opportunity, that sense of hope that we can get back to doing the things that we used to do prior to our injuries," said Sonia.

The Beat the Heat camp also featured a wheelchair sports activities day in Glendora with everything from basketball and softball to pickleball and fencing. Casa Colina offers some of these activities year-round, giving participants an outlet for fun as well as access to a community of others who are in the same boat.

"For me, it just keeps my mind in a place where, hey, I'm not progressing as fast as I want to, but little by little, I'm getting there," said Sonia.

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