My dive buddy/partner has two curves of scoliosis. As a child, she was trained as a synchro swimmer as PT. She dove for many years in Cuba (no certs) and only recently was NAUI certified. The OW instructor (diferent from the classroom instructor) was not very accommodating of her on-surface needs. She is still, a few weeks later, recovering from the tank-carrying/full-gear-march issue. She is really turned off of diving in the States and very angry about the whole experience. And yes, she is a good diver with good sense, and a great deal of *muscle* strength. She just has a crooked spine.
The issue was that we were rushed to complete the cert dives due to bad weather. (I have several of my own issues with that weekend...the first being that the instructor hadn't checked the weather prior to the trip). She was barely able to walk in full gear even on the handicapped ramp. I don't think it would have been that big of a deal for me (or her, or a DM) to bring down her gear to the entry point and let her suit up there, or to let her suit up in the water. She also was weighted out in a lopsided manner, which she complained about. Meanwhile, I was in the position of trying to help her preserve her dignity to the point of major distraction (left some of my own gear at one site) and she was PUT into the position of holding up the whole shooting match, to the point of other OW students with resort course experience making snotty, passive aggressive comments about holding up the line, which the instructor did nothing to discourage.
We made lots of jokes about starting our own "handicrap" dive club, overt reminders about her scoliosis, etc., to no avail. I got the sense that I was filed under "overly-worried" and she was filed under "drama queen."
I left off dive leadership progression ten years ago, and I'm hoping to start training in HSA, which is something I've wanted to do since I started diving. I just wanted to remind everyone to BE AWARE that some disabilities are NOT visible and require accommodation and simple human consideration. When someone in otherwise good shape is stuck on the steps like a beached whale because she can't physically lift herself to a seated position, she's probably not working on her suntan--especially in neoprene on a rainy day.
