Diving Options With Visual Impairment

[Bent Benny]

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.

 

[CG43]

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.

Hello
Monitoring gas supply is easy with a doubel tank scuba with two independet tank valves .
One valve is open all the dive , the other valve is closed . If tank 1 is empty the valve 2 is
opened only up to the the pressure in both tank is equalised , then vave 2 is closed again .
Now she has 1/2 gas , after the second time open valve 2 gas is 1/4 , third time gas is 1/8 ........
Monitoring depth can be done with a buoy and a rope that can be thrown off quickly .

There is no question freediving ore not if she is abel to become familiar with it !
It's the best way to become and feel save and comfortable unter water .
I think this is more important than a certificate .
Especially if you can't see much while diving, that's important. I occasionally have to dive into very murky water where I can see nothing or very little . Good visibility is beautiful, but rarely essential for survival .
If you dive without a mask you can't see sharply, but that's also fun if you're not afraid of it.

Greetings Rainer

 

[happy-diver]

A suitable location is key and dive supervision, made easier if the boat you mention is yours

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

It really depends on your situation.

There is a diver on British South Coast who is for all purposes blind - he can see shadows underwater to know if he is inside or outside of a wreck but needs to use touch and sound (talking to people) to move around the boat. However, he knows the boat and his gear so well that at first, you wouldn’t know that he is visually impaired. Solo dives a rebreather from a boat with a lift, deco dives to 100m.

Super nice person too and a massive inspiration. As far as I know, he learned to dive while he still had some vision.

DSMB and closing valves would probably work for open circuit. You could also look into transponders and computer with alerts? I think it also depends on location, some places might be too fragile to dive by touch and you need a solid seabed. The problem is that your wife could start the dive with a guide but would still need to be able to safely get out by herself.