Deaf diver considering Dive Master

[deaf diver]

Hi All. I have bilateral Cochlear Implants so when I am on a boat or on land I can hear. When in the water I am deaf. I have been diving for over 30 years. I have been thinking lately about the possibility of getting my Padi dive master and possibly instructor with the intent that when my daughter graduates I would someplace for the winters (I live in Minnesota) and work as a DM or Instructor for the winter months. My question is is this reasonable and would anyplace hire me without the ability to hear when on the surface after a dive. I do have a water proof processor that I can wear in the water to a depth of 10'. I could however put it in a dry case and take it with and then put it on once I am surfaced. Look forward to anyones thoughts!! !
Greg

 

[arbby]

I'll let others with more knowledge of dive ops speak for that. I'll also assume you can sign. But you have an extra specialist skill and experience which most others don't have, no matter how niche. As such with the right forward thinking business, and with marketing in the right area you could very well be an asset.

I don't mean to pigeonhole you as only being suitable for other deaf divers, because this clearly isn't true, but instead from a purely commercial standpoint you could tap a market others can't reach.

 

[JackD342]

I suggest you reach out to DiveHeart for some insight and information.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

I would be very surprised if the inability to hear underwater would have any impact...more an issue of trying to find a DM role that pays enough to be worth doing it when you only want to do it seasonably for winter months and are of the age that your kids have finished college

Good luck though!

 

[TrimixToo]

Go for it!

I think the only caveat is that you should likely always be teamed with someone else who can hear surface signals (yells, whistles, etc.), but they can be on a boat and DMs rarely act alone anyway. Hearing is so iffy underwater anyway that I don't see that as particularly important. ("Where's that tank banging/propeller noise/etc. coming from? No clue!")

If you do happen to sign, I think that's a bonus for teaching deaf students and communicating with other signers. Me, for instance. Why the dive community has decided to use nonstandard signs for so many things, I have no idea...but there seem to be few signers underwater anyway, so this is sort of an edge case.

 

[Graeme Fraser]

We occasionally have a deaf instructor teaching freelance at our dive centre in the UK. I know he's in demand and teaches throughout Europe. If that's the case over here, no reason to see it being any different in the States.

Seeing him having full conversations with his students underwater is mighty impressive and puts our pathetic attempts at signing to shame.

I also believe most agencies would be very supportive and proactive in training professionals able to provide expert adaptive teaching.

Go for it and please keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Bob DBF]

Why the dive community has decided to use nonstandard signs for so many things, I have no idea...

I would bet money that the dive community got the hand signals from the same book they got the US Navy Dive Tables. And over time the dive community added signs, and somewhere along the way the RSTC made a standard set of signs for diving.

Diving signs were developed independently for a specific group of people, the same way that sign language was was developed in a community before ASL. Hindsight is 20/20.


Bob

 

[TrimixToo]

I would bet money that the dive community got the hand signals from the same book they got the US Navy Dive Tables. And over time the dive community added signs, and somewhere along the way the RSTC made a standard set of signs for diving.

Diving signs were developed independently for a specific group of people, the same way that sign language was was developed in a community before ASL. Hindsight is 20/20.


Bob

FSL (late 1700's) and its derivative ASL (early 1800's) far predate the RSTC's adoption of standard hand signals (2005), and even the USN diving program (mid-1800's). The USN's manual, interestingly enough, uses standard ASL/FSL numbers, while the RSTC's numbers are different. Other than that, there is indeed a lot of convergence. (Figures 7-10a and b in Volume 2 of the USN Diving Manual, and http://www.neadc.org/CommonHandSignalsforScubaDiving.pdf.) To be fair, a lot of diving signs (perhaps most) are also standard ASL signs, but...

The positive side of standardized signs for diving is that they could be international. ASL and FSL have a lot of correspondence, but I've read that other sign languages don't correspond much with either one or each other, and I don't know how much variation there might be among national sign languages for signs that are applicable to diving. However, I also don't know whether the signs used by our RSTC are world-wide, though they were approved by the WRSTC in 2005. Thank goodness they didn't use Gestuno numbers. That's something, at least.

 

[Bob DBF]

FSL (late 1700's) and its derivative ASL (early 1800's) far predate the RSTC's adoption of standard hand signals (2005), and even the USN diving program (mid-1800's)

And people before ASL and its French predassor were using sign language to communicate, which is where some of the signs came from. If the Military were originally taking signs from ASL, they probably would have used them all. More likely the developed it "independently" using older military, diving, and common usage which may also be in ASL, or possibly predating ASL and incorporated into it.

Also one would have to look into the WWII version of the Navy Dive Manual to see the original signs as the manual is in constant revision.

It's a good idea to change, but institutions have a history of changing slowly, if at all.



Cheers

Bob

 

[michael-fisch]

You might want to be carefull what you put down on the PADI Medical form, at least 30 years ago they were denying Divemaster ratings to insulin dependent diabetics with a doctors OK for diving, and they might also treat deafness in a similar fashion.
Have an instructor check it out with PADI, in order to make sure that they don't, at the last minute, say no. If at all possible, don't use your own name when asking PADI, since you might not like the answer.

Michael