Bent Benny
Contributor
My wife has a genetic disease called Stargardt's disease(aka juvenile macular degeneration) and she is legally blind. She has some vision, but only in her periphery and she has a large black spot covering most of her vision. She is young and incredibly healthy otherwise, but her vision is very slowly getting worse every year, until eventually she will go completely blind. There is nothing she can do to correct this. Glasses, contacts, etc. will not help at all since it's not a matter of not being able to focus her vision, but instead she has a large black spot occupying >50% of her vision.
A several years ago she tried SNUBA when she was in Hawaii. At that time she was considered legally blind, but she had more vision than she does now.
She is very comfortable in the water and is part fish when the weather is warm enough for swimming. She really feels like she is missing out though since I dive while she stays on the boat.
So I am wondering if there are any options for her to partake in some form of diving. I think free-diving would probably be the safest option, but I'm thinking that maybe it's possible for her to SNUBA, or even become certified for open water SCUBA. The biggest issue though is monitoring depth and gas supply. I'm thinking that with SNUBA the depth would be 30ft or less, so there is less to be concerned with in that regard, and there will not be a pressure gauge to monitor. I have never tried SNUBA though, so I don't feel qualified to understand the risks and risk prevention measures, especially with a visually impaired diver.
If it's possible I know she would really like to become open water certified, knowing that she will not be pushing any limits, and I will be her dive buddy to keep an eye on her air consumption and keep an eye on her.
I saw that the user @armeyer82 has a podcast on this topic which I will check out in the coming days, but I was hoping to get some advice and perspective on this. I want to make sure that we aren't going to make a bad decision just because we want her to dive so badly and we happen to find an instructor who will pass her even if she shouldn't.
Is her dream of becoming SCUBA certified something attainable? Is there some kind of device which can be used by visually impaired divers to help determine depth and/or gas supply? Even something that can just give an approximation? She has enough vision in her peripheral vision that I think she will be able to have some awareness of buoyancy, but there is no way she will be able to read a standard depth/pressure gauge or dive computer.
I know I don't have many direct questions here, but any information that someone can offer would be helpful. Even if it's just to say "any type of diving is a terrible idea for xyz reason" I would like to hear it.
Would freediving or SNIBA be a safer option? Is SCUBA attainable? Any guidance would be appreciated.
A several years ago she tried SNUBA when she was in Hawaii. At that time she was considered legally blind, but she had more vision than she does now.
She is very comfortable in the water and is part fish when the weather is warm enough for swimming. She really feels like she is missing out though since I dive while she stays on the boat.
So I am wondering if there are any options for her to partake in some form of diving. I think free-diving would probably be the safest option, but I'm thinking that maybe it's possible for her to SNUBA, or even become certified for open water SCUBA. The biggest issue though is monitoring depth and gas supply. I'm thinking that with SNUBA the depth would be 30ft or less, so there is less to be concerned with in that regard, and there will not be a pressure gauge to monitor. I have never tried SNUBA though, so I don't feel qualified to understand the risks and risk prevention measures, especially with a visually impaired diver.
If it's possible I know she would really like to become open water certified, knowing that she will not be pushing any limits, and I will be her dive buddy to keep an eye on her air consumption and keep an eye on her.
I saw that the user @armeyer82 has a podcast on this topic which I will check out in the coming days, but I was hoping to get some advice and perspective on this. I want to make sure that we aren't going to make a bad decision just because we want her to dive so badly and we happen to find an instructor who will pass her even if she shouldn't.
Is her dream of becoming SCUBA certified something attainable? Is there some kind of device which can be used by visually impaired divers to help determine depth and/or gas supply? Even something that can just give an approximation? She has enough vision in her peripheral vision that I think she will be able to have some awareness of buoyancy, but there is no way she will be able to read a standard depth/pressure gauge or dive computer.
I know I don't have many direct questions here, but any information that someone can offer would be helpful. Even if it's just to say "any type of diving is a terrible idea for xyz reason" I would like to hear it.
Would freediving or SNIBA be a safer option? Is SCUBA attainable? Any guidance would be appreciated.
