Surprised to find my wife in HSA

[lv2dive]

The issue here - IMHO - is that the instructor moved the wife to HSA from PADI without their knowledge/approval and without giving her the chance to redo the skills she had an issue with... Which people without disabilities have issues with, too. And clearly was being sneaky about it if he asked for the PADI Materials back! What the heck?

 

[agesilaus]

The point is that the instructor never mentioned HSA, she signed up for a PADI cert, used the PADI material, watched the PADI DVD, did the PADI dives, and took the PADI exam. He told her she passed and the first thing we knew about HSA was getting their card in the mail.

BK

 

[armeyer82]

sorry but cannot see PADI response as a brush off. If she did not meet the requirements no PADI certification. It's that simple. Some credibility is lost by calling alternate air source "buddy breathing" as the skill of buddy breathing has not been a requirement for a few years now. If all reading, view of video,knowledge reviews, quizzes, final exam, pool and confined water was done correctly I would think it unlikely the wrong terminology would be used by the student.
Any instructor from any agency can withhold certification if the agency standards are not met. I had a student I certified once ask me to take on his wife, who was physically handicapped, as a student. I refused as I felt she would not be safe in water. She had both a physical disability and learning disability.
My former student did not like it, but she is not getting herself or someone lose hurt on my watch. They went to a HSA type instructor and she can only dive now to my understanding with a dive pro and another diver who is trained by their agency to assist her. They went on 1 trip on their own to Bonaire to get this certification, with this instructor who traveled from Pennsylvania to join them. She made the required certification dives and never dove again. Sorry but this was way out of my comfort zone.

That's true though. If the requirements are not met, a certifying agency has all the right to refuse certification. This is a major disadvantage of how PADI and similar organizations operate. One enrolls and pays for the course then once the course is finished, if the student hasn't passed, they don't receive their certification. I don't know much about how HSA's certification program works. I have a fellow diver who has been diving for 10 years. He has a physical handicap as well as a mental disability. He has to walk very slow and easily falls down. He's a fantastic underwater photographer and also a better diver than me and I only have total blindness. Oh and he only dives with a single guide.

 

[armeyer82]

The point is that the instructor never mentioned HSA, she signed up for a PADI cert, used the PADI material, watched the PADI DVD, did the PADI dives, and took the PADI exam. He told her she passed and the first thing we knew about HSA was getting their card in the mail.

BK

I agree that the instructor should have informed your wife that she would be certified through HSA. That was being rather dishonest on the part of the instructor. Where I live, people have a choice as to if they are certified as a diver with a disability or certified under the regular certification. One can also transfer from one program to the other. For example, we have a totally blind diver who was certified as a handicapped diver, but became comfortable enough that she is actually now certified as a regular, non-handicapped diver.

 

[lionfish-eater]

this thread is from 2014