Ber Rabbit:
That's another good option Ber. Rather than diving with ONE buddy, form a THREE person team. TWO sighted buddies and ONE visually impaired diver. That's a very good suggestion.
Blind friend wants to dive...
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That's another good option Ber. Rather than diving with ONE buddy, form a THREE person team. TWO sighted buddies and ONE visually impaired diver. That's a very good suggestion.
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I work with the physically and mentally challenged...they are just as determined to do things like you and I. One of the clients always asks to go diving with me - he has Cerebral Palsy - I can see him diving the way Matt did.
One of my clients is blind and she loves to walk...one day I took her up inside Diamond Head and she LOVED IT!. For those who have never gone up there, it was quite a challenge for her. The path, in some spots, was missing. I had her get down on her bottom and scoot across the ground till the path was good again. There are two flights of stairs. One very steep and the other is winding - I was by her side the entire way....When we got to the top people applauded her for her stamina and courage.
Diving, for a blind person, doesn't have to be the diving you do. The experience alone, the feel of the water and the sounds, would mean so much more to them than it ever could to you because those senses, of touch and hearing, are so much more defined than ours. I have dove with able divers in the past that needed some one to set up their gear, dress them, check their gauge and keep them safe....why not do the same for a blind diver?
One of my clients is blind and she loves to walk...one day I took her up inside Diamond Head and she LOVED IT!. For those who have never gone up there, it was quite a challenge for her. The path, in some spots, was missing. I had her get down on her bottom and scoot across the ground till the path was good again. There are two flights of stairs. One very steep and the other is winding - I was by her side the entire way....When we got to the top people applauded her for her stamina and courage.
Diving, for a blind person, doesn't have to be the diving you do. The experience alone, the feel of the water and the sounds, would mean so much more to them than it ever could to you because those senses, of touch and hearing, are so much more defined than ours. I have dove with able divers in the past that needed some one to set up their gear, dress them, check their gauge and keep them safe....why not do the same for a blind diver?
Jim,
OK - I might have come off too strong. I thought you meant wreck penetration...
I would imagine that a shallow dive in a relatively safe area (sandy bottom) would work fine with a fully blind diver. They would not pose significant risk to the environment, nor would the environment pose undue risk to the diver beyond the minimum risks associated with diving in general.
So I suppose here is the challenge - go out a dive a site with your eyes covered or without your mask. If we can do it (already being trained) with the help of a buddy, a blind person can do it. They may have an advantage over sighted people to begin with - they won't feel disoriented without their vision, as they are used to a lack of visual input.
OK - I might have come off too strong. I thought you meant wreck penetration...
I would imagine that a shallow dive in a relatively safe area (sandy bottom) would work fine with a fully blind diver. They would not pose significant risk to the environment, nor would the environment pose undue risk to the diver beyond the minimum risks associated with diving in general.
So I suppose here is the challenge - go out a dive a site with your eyes covered or without your mask. If we can do it (already being trained) with the help of a buddy, a blind person can do it. They may have an advantage over sighted people to begin with - they won't feel disoriented without their vision, as they are used to a lack of visual input.
I think it is worth bearing in mind that many disabled divers can safely enjoy open water dives as long as they are diving with properly trained buddies. Take Matt as an example he is totally reliant on his dive team, but no one would want to take away his opportunities to dive in the ocean.
The same goes for blind people, paralysed people, amputees, quadraplegics, etc, etc.
Thankfully, you have many organisations around the world, such as IAHD, HDA, etc, that specialise in teaching disabled people to dive, and also teaching able-bodied people how to be their buddies underwater. The IAHD Dive Partner programme is awesome imagine being wrapped up with duck tape so that you can barely move your left hand a few inches and the rest of you is immobile, and then being taken underwater in a pool with trained Dive Partners helping you with buoyancy, clearing your ears, etc. It freaks you out, but it means you have to trust your Dive Partners totally for assistance, just as a genuinely disabled diver would have to. It certainly opens your eyes...
I was lucky enough to be involved in the Around the World in 80 Ways (www.aroundtheworldin80ways.com) event, which saw three disabled people attempting to use 80 different means of transport on a round-the-world trip to raise awareness of people with disabilities. I helped out on the section where they went to the Red Sea. Miles, the leader of the trio, was already an open water diver and he has been blind since his early 20s (he's now in his 50s), while the other two were an amputee and a legally blind woman who were doing their Open Water course.
Miles certainly proves that being blind doesn't mean you are incapable this is a brief rundown of what he has done:
His endurance achievements include; the 150-mile Sahara Ultra-Marathon, billed as "The Toughest Footrace on Earth", "The Siberian Ice Marathon", ("The Coldest Marathon on earth"), an 11-day ultra-marathon across sections of the Gobi Desert in China, crossing the entire Qatar Desert with 4 other men unsupported and non-stop without sleep, and man-hauling a sledge over 400 kilometres across Antarctica. His mountaineering achievements include climbing in the Himalayas, Scottish Grade 3 technical ice climbing, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Blanc, Africa's and Europe's highest mountains respectively.
Other past achievements include; Grade 5 Zambesi white water rafting, tandem cycling marathons, abseiling, hot-air ballooning, water skiing, micro lighting, scuba diving, and the 1998 London Marathon, para sailing and 40 sky-diving jumps.
A very inspirational individual.
Anyway, in the Red Sea, it was amazing to see the enjoyment he got out of diving. He used an audible Orca dive comp attached to his mask. He liked the feeling of weightlessness and all the noise, especially on the reef. When we surfaced, he wanted us all to tell him what we'd seen, and he got a lot out of that.
While I also push the 'look and don't touch' philosophy, we did find dead bits of coral lying in rubble patches and let him run his fingers over them to feel the shape/texture, etc. Then we told him what colours they were, etc, and he loved it.
Mark
The same goes for blind people, paralysed people, amputees, quadraplegics, etc, etc.
Thankfully, you have many organisations around the world, such as IAHD, HDA, etc, that specialise in teaching disabled people to dive, and also teaching able-bodied people how to be their buddies underwater. The IAHD Dive Partner programme is awesome imagine being wrapped up with duck tape so that you can barely move your left hand a few inches and the rest of you is immobile, and then being taken underwater in a pool with trained Dive Partners helping you with buoyancy, clearing your ears, etc. It freaks you out, but it means you have to trust your Dive Partners totally for assistance, just as a genuinely disabled diver would have to. It certainly opens your eyes...
I was lucky enough to be involved in the Around the World in 80 Ways (www.aroundtheworldin80ways.com) event, which saw three disabled people attempting to use 80 different means of transport on a round-the-world trip to raise awareness of people with disabilities. I helped out on the section where they went to the Red Sea. Miles, the leader of the trio, was already an open water diver and he has been blind since his early 20s (he's now in his 50s), while the other two were an amputee and a legally blind woman who were doing their Open Water course.
Miles certainly proves that being blind doesn't mean you are incapable this is a brief rundown of what he has done:
His endurance achievements include; the 150-mile Sahara Ultra-Marathon, billed as "The Toughest Footrace on Earth", "The Siberian Ice Marathon", ("The Coldest Marathon on earth"), an 11-day ultra-marathon across sections of the Gobi Desert in China, crossing the entire Qatar Desert with 4 other men unsupported and non-stop without sleep, and man-hauling a sledge over 400 kilometres across Antarctica. His mountaineering achievements include climbing in the Himalayas, Scottish Grade 3 technical ice climbing, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Blanc, Africa's and Europe's highest mountains respectively.
Other past achievements include; Grade 5 Zambesi white water rafting, tandem cycling marathons, abseiling, hot-air ballooning, water skiing, micro lighting, scuba diving, and the 1998 London Marathon, para sailing and 40 sky-diving jumps.
A very inspirational individual.
Anyway, in the Red Sea, it was amazing to see the enjoyment he got out of diving. He used an audible Orca dive comp attached to his mask. He liked the feeling of weightlessness and all the noise, especially on the reef. When we surfaced, he wanted us all to tell him what we'd seen, and he got a lot out of that.
While I also push the 'look and don't touch' philosophy, we did find dead bits of coral lying in rubble patches and let him run his fingers over them to feel the shape/texture, etc. Then we told him what colours they were, etc, and he loved it.
Mark
undefined:
All good points. That's the kind of diving I was thinking of, but I just didn't present it well. Heck, on some of my local quarry dives, being sighted hardly helps at all when the viz goes to almost 0.
james croft
Contributor
Here ya go..............http://www.zombi.dk/images/big_gallery/304.phpfisherdvm:
Next up: Spearfishing By The Braille Method
pakman
Contributor
miketsp:
Ever dive on a healthy reef and just listened to all that life around you... You'd be surprised how visually impaired people can compensate for the lack of vision.
One of the most inspirational people I've met was Gordon Gund, former owner of the Cavaliers and San Jose Sharks. I went to school with his two kids and had the privilege of meeting Gordon a number of times. He went blind in his twenties, but it's amazing how active he is. He's been known to ski black diamond courses in Colorado (with an instructor or family member skiing behind him)! And at one time I think he gave windsurfing a shot at their summer home in Nantucket. I wouldn't bat an eye if my old friend told me his dad took up diving...
MarkUK,
Thank you for sharing your experiences diving with a blind person. Miles sounds like an incredible individual who does not let his sight interfere with his life. I am thoroughly impressed (and somewhat envious of his adventures!)
I think at the end of the day the bottom line is that blind or sighted, diving must be approached from a cautious and informed position. I would rather dive with a blind person who isn't freaking out or banging into the reef than some of the OW divers I've seen, but either way there needs to be an appropriate level of training and preparation before making the dive. Blind people are not incapable of doing things that sighted people are, they just have limitations that must be considered and worked through.
I stand by my original statement that a blind person being taken into a wreck or cave is tantamount to negligence (or homicide, depending on the situation!). Those that work to help the blind are doing a great service for their fellow man or woman, but they must always consider the dangers that they place themselves and others around them in and work to resolve issues in a manner that mitigates as much of the risk as possible. I would hesitate to encourage a blind person to dive with a DM or Instructor who has not previously trained on appropriate methods for the situation.
Thank you for sharing your experiences diving with a blind person. Miles sounds like an incredible individual who does not let his sight interfere with his life. I am thoroughly impressed (and somewhat envious of his adventures!)
I think at the end of the day the bottom line is that blind or sighted, diving must be approached from a cautious and informed position. I would rather dive with a blind person who isn't freaking out or banging into the reef than some of the OW divers I've seen, but either way there needs to be an appropriate level of training and preparation before making the dive. Blind people are not incapable of doing things that sighted people are, they just have limitations that must be considered and worked through.
I stand by my original statement that a blind person being taken into a wreck or cave is tantamount to negligence (or homicide, depending on the situation!). Those that work to help the blind are doing a great service for their fellow man or woman, but they must always consider the dangers that they place themselves and others around them in and work to resolve issues in a manner that mitigates as much of the risk as possible. I would hesitate to encourage a blind person to dive with a DM or Instructor who has not previously trained on appropriate methods for the situation.
undefined:
Actually we do this in our open water class, the drill is called "Black-out mask" and the students get to go hunting for "treasure" (CO2 cartridges and valve parts) on the bottom of the pool. They also have to navigate to the "north corner" of the pool once they have found the assigned number of objects. They get to use their compass before "going blind" to decide where that corner is but must find it by feel or intuition once the exercise starts. Its cool to watch them determine their position in the deep end by touch then maintain a slow ascent rate without being able to see (your ears and sinuses will tell you your ascent rate) before they head off to the assigned corner of the pool. It's a favorite exercise with the students.
Ber :lilbunny:
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