Disabled/Handicapped divers

[Keysdrifter454]

WAC,

Excellent tips! Thanks.

My instructor thought that putting a weight belt on me might be beneficial as you point out. What type of weights do you use? Is there any type of belt you would recommend?

I also thought of belting my legs together (without weights) since I don't use them to keep them from flopping around while swimming. Any thoughts on this approach?

I spent a summer diving with a para female, she used two wide rubber bands (might've been large innertube), one at the knees, one at the ankles, no fins. She was a photog (which, when accurate, means a very skilled diver), and used a scooter for propulsion.

 

[snorkelcorey]

Hey, Wayne. SnorkelCorey, here. I'm slightly diasabled, as well. But, I don't let it stop from doing what I want to do, and when. It may sound like I'm a rebel, being rebellous, with this kind of ''attitude''. So be it that way, then. All I'm saying is, '' if you want to do some thing despite you're being disabaled, don't let it stop you. This past summer, I went snorkelling. And now, I'm thinking of going for the intro to scuba, after Christmas, to see if I can get a lot of enjoyment of it. Go for it, Wayne. Corey

 

[erka]

Matt said - "I have fought alot of battles, I am never going to give up on my diving dream. I will be sure to keep you and everyone else updated on my funding and updated on my diving status. I can't wait to join you all underwater. Hope you have some great dives! "

Keep going Matt. I've been diving since 2000 and one of the first dives I did was in the Caribbean with a fellow who had MD. He had no use of his legs and very little with his arms. Me, I'm a gimp due to MS and have almost no use of my right leg, amongst ot=her problems. But we did 2 dives at 85 feet, the second one was 50 minutes long. Had to tow Bill around but we both did great.

Go for it!

Keith

 

[erka]

What I did find a problem with is weighting. I found my self working so hard just to keep upright in the water when on the surface or even below...

The slightest weight off kilter would spin me over sometimes as much as on my back looking at the surface. Cool...but not quite what I was trying to achieve. Since I was working so hard just to keep me stable in the water I would really suck up some air.

... I also like the long hose regulator setup compared to the traditional recreational diving setup. Since I went through this training and certification with my wife we found that having to donate was much more difficult using the traditional method. My diving instructor (I got lucky enough to find an HSA instructor) uses a DIR setup and that worked so much easier.

I found that weights are still a problem for me too. I have MS and my legs are wonky at best. I feel my system, which works well for me, allows the BC which wraps around me provides more stability overall, and I keep the weights as far forward as possible to keep me from goping on my back.

Keith

 

[sololady]

Hi Wayne, I was thinking that with the back inflate it would help to keep trim also, and it worked ok once we were in the water and all geared up but putting the thing on was a trip. trying to feel behind you through bits and pieces of webbing, with gloves on, I had a heck of a time figuring it out, so it seems easier for me to just use the jacket. I thought the back inflate would also be less restrictive; well, its hard to say that I noticed a difference as it's so much fun either way...

I exercise quite a bit and i think this helps alot, that is, in not getting winded while "pulling" yourself about. I don't have the size you do though, I always thought i was 5' 11" but it turns out I'm only 5' 9", not quite sure what happened to the other 2.

usually we used some weight around the ankles (but only when I had on neoprene) and as my tank got lighter Jeff would put 2 ankle weights around the back end of the tank wich helped but other than that it was just the weight in the BC. we also needed weight on a belt for the snorkeling which was a suprise. You struggle like hell to stay on the surface as though your gonna sink if you don't but then when you do want to swim to the bottom you gotta carry lead with you, go figure.

Rick

Hi Rick

Just happened across this post from several months ago. Are you still here on the board? I know of something I think might help your weighting efforts. Shoot me a pm if you are still diving.

 

[SeeWorld]

Hi Wayne,
I just completed some training to be a dive buddy for handicapped divers. Diveheart is a fantastic group led by a gentleman named Jim Elliott. I recommend contacting them through the website www.diveheart.org From Milwaukee you are about 90 minutes away from a fantastic group ready to dive with you!
God Belss and Happy Diving, Tadas

ps - Their next trip is to Cozumel in December, then Cuba in May! Yes. Offshore Cuba! They also do local diving in season.

Just wondering if there were any disabled/handicapped divers on this forum.

I am a T5-6 paraplegic newly certified diver through Deep Blue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and would like to talk to other divers in the same boat (pun intended!) to maybe gain some knowledge from their experiences.

 

[mnj1233]

View attachment 23726

Just wondering if there were any disabled/handicapped divers on this forum.

I am a T5-6 paraplegic newly certified diver through Deep Blue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and would like to talk to other divers in the same boat (pun intended!) to maybe gain some knowledge from their experiences.

We run a dive charter in Duluth, MN if you are ever up this way look us up Id be glad to get you out. One of our our best friends/customer is an amputee and he claims our boat is very user friendly. P.S. its cold water here but then again so is Lake Michigan.

 

[Louma]

I recently went through the HSA Instructor course. It was a fun and challanging course. One of the things that made this course so worth while was the other people that were taking the course. One of the Instructors that I met has done a lot of work getting the disabled certified with another agency. He's out of Rhode Island and his web page is:

http://www.simplyscubausa.com/index.htm

You may want to contact them, I'm sure that they would be happy to connect you with other divers with various handicaps that have gone through his courses.

Lots of luck! and welcome to the wounderful world of diving!

 

[beyondfear]

Keep the bubbles flowin!

Just finished the HSA Instructor course in Aug - now looking for some folks to teach. Keep me posted on your dive experiences if you would! My neighbor in FL was a quad - he used to snorkel with us all the time. I wanted to teach him, but didn't have the skill set then. I've been looking for him - he's moved just before we did.

Anyway - great to hear you're out diving - check out the site - hsascuba.com. They have lots of info about trips they've taken, etc. You may find someone there that can tell you some of their stories!

Dawn Holrath
scubadue@earthlink.net

 

[LAJim]

I got certified in August 2004 and did about five post certification dives in the next two months. Had a big dive trip in Cabo planned for December. But in October my finger tips started tingling and a few weeks later my left arm became completely useless one morning. There followed a few weeks of intensive medical testing with varied tentative diagnoses including MS and ALS. Pretty quickly I was being examined or treated by a total of 16 physicians not including radiologists.

A detailed MRI study showed that I had a rare form of progressive quadriplegia resulting from cervical mylopathy due to a congenitally narrow cervical spinal canal. My spinal cord was borderline my entire life and when normal disc degeneration kicked in my late 40s the spinal cord was slowly "crushed" and atrophied. The process, which had been going on slowy for years, kicked into high gear as a result of a disc blowing in September. As I lost the ability to feel my feet, I fell down a flight of stairs in November and greatly accelerated loss of neurological function. I also "flunked out of" physical therapy which was being tried as a conservative treatment. As I got worse no one would touch my neck. I could walk only with high doses of steroids, a cane and a brace on my left leg.

The first neurosurgeon would not operate. After a lot of pushing by my primary care physician we found a "hot shot" who recommended an immediate and radical procedure which had a good chance of stabilizing the condition. No other promises.

On December 23 most of C2 through C7 were cut away to decompress my spinal cord. A new cervical spine was constructed using titanium rods, 12 screws and bone grafts harvested from the original verterbra. (Six-level laminectomy with fusion). I regained conciousness with some degree of paralysis on my right side but otherwise very promising neurological signs. I was nearly taken out by a post operative infection and subsequently DVT blood clots. Some more hospitalization and lots of medication followed. I had to inject myself twice a day with a blood thinner and then went on oral warfarin for six months.

Recovery was slow - technically my neck was broken in 12 places and they cut through a lot of muscles. Major, major physical therapy and constant intense pain as my muscles came back on line.

In June I bought dive gear. Still partially numb in my right hand I spent several weekends in the pool doing basic skills training over and over and over so I could confidently recover my reg, work all releases, etc.

First four open water dives were at Casino Point Catalina with very conservative profiles and typically ending with 1000 psi. Bigest initial challenges were strength related - gearing up and walking down the steps. Finally went to Cabo in August and made six dives down to 83 feet with mild current and other complexities.

Started diving Anacapa in October off of the Spectre and beach diving locally with Sandeaters a couple of weeks ago. Now at 33 logged dives.

Blood pressure and pulse down 20 each in the last several months. I've recovered most of the neurological deficit on the right side.

I'm not a disabled diver. But I was a few months ago. Diving gave me the motivation to recover.

Jim