DISABLED REALTORS -- part 8

Overcoming the Odds and Getting the Job Done What challenges does she face in being a Realtor because of her disabilities? Walking up or down stairs means carefully maneuvering while holding tight to the railing. She takes an elevator whenever possible. Because of the damage the accident caused to the frontal part of her brain, numbers are a challenge for her. “I had to re-train myself. I remember one time after the accident going to the grocery store. At the checkout, I was sure the clerk gave me too little change, and I almost made her re-count the entire contents of her drawer,” she said. Frustrated by her difficulty with numbers, Martin said, “I was more upset with myself than anything.” To cope with this challenge, Martin is very organized. “I’m anal about it, truly. I am very file oriented. I work from left to right on my desk. Once I misplace a file, I lose it,” she said, referring to the emotional upset she feels when something occasionally goes missing. “I can’t rest until I find it,” she said. Most of Martin’s clients don’t think of her as having a disability, since the outward manifestations are generally not visible to others. They do notice her fastidious ways, though. “Sometimes they look at me weird because I’m so anal about being organized,” Martin said, with a smile in her voice.

DISABLED REALTORS -- part 7

Overcoming the Odds and Getting the Job Done Martin’s recuperation lasted a year and a half. She used a wheelchair for a year, then a walker. She now walks unaided, though stairs are difficult. Other residual effects include a bulging disc and pressed nerves in her back, numbness down her arms and legs and chronic pain. She also has nerve damage on the left side of her face. Additionally, Martin has had to go through cognitive retraining. Before the accident she was a private investigator with her own security company. But the work was sometimes dangerous, and as a single mother, Martin began to re-think her career path. “Life is too short,” she said. In 2002, she became a Realtor, selling both residential and commercial. She had always loved working around properties – her father had built and owned apartments when she was growing up – plus, she had experience in insurance and marketing. It seemed like a natural next step for her, career-wise. Martin also has a job doing property management for a company that oversees five developments totaling 600 homes. She enjoys the property management work, but laughingly says of it: “The only time people talk to you is when they have problems.”

DISABLED REALTORS -- part 6

Overcoming the Odds and Getting the Job Done Peggy L. Martin is a Realtor who radiates confidence and a love for the field, even though she lives with major challenges on a daily basis. An agent with First Realty Network in Boynton Beach, Martin must cope with the fallout of a horrific car accident which occurred in 1988. While driving, Martin turned a corner and crashed into a tractor-trailer that had stopped in the road and had no running lights. Upon impact, her car was propelled underneath the truck. The roof of the car peeled off like the lid of a tin can. Her seat belt tore in two from the impact. Though originally declared dead at the scene, a policeman found a heartbeat on her. She was air lifted to a hospital, where she spent two weeks in critical condition, not expected to live. “My forehead was crushed, my brain was punctured, said Martin. She suffered over 100 fractures and had over 100 stitches in her face alone. “God brought me through this whole thing,” she said. “I’m much more grateful for what I have now.”

DISABLED REALTORS -- part 5

Overcoming the Odds and Getting the Job Done It took him a while to develop a system to compensate. He copes by using pocket-size micro-recorders and writing down many things. He also plans out as much of his work as possible, knowing that some things will happen spontaneously anyway. “If I’m going to an unfamiliar location, I go early and survey the situation,” he said. He knows his limitations and works within them. Though he doesn’t mention the stroke and its impairment of his memory to clients, he tells them he has a “poor memory.” For Williams, steps are doable but sometimes difficult. He doesn’t need any accommodation for his labored gait beyond a standard handrail or banister. If he does discuss his limp, he tells clients he had an accident that injured his leg. “People are always much more concerned about me than I am about myself,” said Williams. He’s never encountered an instance of discrimination with a client. “I approach people with the attitude: ‘This is who I am. Accept me or not.’ All of us have our disabilities: some physical, some mental, some spiritual,” Williams said. Ultimately, Williams is a Realtor because he truly enjoys it. “It’s the only thing I know how to do, and am confident doing it.”

DISABLED REALTORS -- part 4

Overcoming the Odds and Getting the Job Done Selling properties has also been Cal Williams’ calling for the last 32 years. An on-site agent for Beazer Homes in the St. Augustine area, Williams’ career was put on hold 14 years ago when he suffered a stroke. The stroke’s immediate effects rendered Williams totally paralyzed on his right side and without the ability to speak. He went through 21 hours of brain surgery and two years of rehabilitation. “During rehab, I was told I’d never be able to work again,” said Williams. But Williams worked hard to prove them wrong. Today, the residual effects of the stroke are a pronounced limp and short-term memory impairment. Fortunately, his employer at the time of his illness was very understanding about his situation. “I told them ‘you’ll probably not want me back.’ They replied ‘let us be the judge of that,’” Williams said. He went back part-time, then transitioned back to full-time. From the time of the stroke until he returned to full-time work, three years had passed. His greatest challenge returning to work was remembering important things necessary to assist clients in purchasing homes.

DISABLED REALTORS -- part 3

Overcoming the Odds and Getting the Job Done Although dealing with a limitation many people see as insurmountable, Diaz has been very successful, selling $7 million in 2003. How does he do it? His PDA, laptop and office computer all have screen-reading audio software, which converts the written word to the spoken word. With the software, he can do such things as e-mail clients from his PDA and write his own contracts on his computer. Diaz has a secretary, as well as a driver, who also describes properties as he guides Diaz through them. He doesn’t tell clients he’s blind until he meets them, and has never had a client decline his representation because of his disability. “Clients are amazed by what I can do with my computers. (Because of the computers), I immediately develop a rapport with them,” he said. What’s the biggest challenge now for Diaz, a man who views his blindness as “just an inconvenience?” “To sell more properties,” he said, with the zeal of a true salesman.

DISABLED REALTORS -- part 2

Overcoming the Odds and Getting the Job Done

“I described colors for them. I tried to describe the color blue by describing the ocean.

I ran into a solid block wall,” he said.
“You cannot describe colors to one who has never seen them.”

This experience changed his attitude about his blindness and made him “thankful to God” for the things he did have.

“I got peace inside. I began to think maybe things aren’t so bad,” said Diaz.

He began working at a local hospital developing x-ray film. He married and started a family. As time went on, though, he wanted a better economic situation for himself and his family.

“I called a local real estate school and was told they could not accommodate me. They were not set up to train a blind person,” he recalled.

Diaz wouldn’t give up, and got the home study course materials, which he had recorded onto audio tape. He studied from the audio tapes, but failed the test on the first try.

“I asked myself: ‘Do you want to be where you are?’ The answer was ‘no.’”

Diaz studied even harder and passed the real estate exam on the second attempt.

In January 1970, Diaz opened his own office. He worked out of his house until 1983, when he bought his own office building.

DISABLED REALTORS -- part 1

Selling real estate is filled with challenges. There are difficult buyers, quirky sellers, confusing contracts, changing economies and a host of other potential pitfalls. A trio of Sunshine State Realtors negotiates through all those hurdles while also coping with significant disabilities. But they don’t want to be thought of as “disabled,” or worse yet, “special” Realtors. Above all, they are savvy business people, they are educated agents, they are outstanding client advocates. But all three acknowledge that they have achieved while managing the demands of disabilities ranging from vision loss, memory impairment and cognitive difficulties. Erodio Diaz would have been an airline pilot if he hadn’t lost his vision, said the Hialeah-based commercial and residential Realtor, who has been working in the real estate field since 1967. Diaz came to the United States at age 9 from Havana, Cuba. At age 13, he lost his sight and many of his friends, who could not relate to his new world without vision. “When I lost my sight, I didn’t know what to do. I even thought about suicide,” said Diaz. At age 17, he returned to school, this time a school for the blind. There he met classmates who, unlike himself, had been blind from birth. They had no concept of what colors looked like.