Scuba Diving as a person with a disability

My life went a bit crazy for a while, but one thing to come from it was it gave me a new outlook on life. Life is for living so make the most of it whilst you've got it. This new outlook on life led to me taking up a new hobby, I had wanted to try Scuba Diving for several years after a try dive on a holiday in Tenerife. Little did I know at the time that the experience I had was nothing compared to the experience I was going to have. My previous experience was much about being made to feel disabled, being dragged around like a rag doll rather than being enabled to experience the freedom I learnt I was able to have. I truly feel free and equal to everyone else once I am in the water even though my technique is different to most other people.

During the year where my life changed forever, I stayed with friends for a while, they also have disabilities and they introduced me to the Scuba Trust. This is a charity focussed on providing support and instruction to individuals who want to learn to dive but have a disability. I soon got hooked and decided that I was going to work towards my PADI Open Water qualification. For anyone unfamiliar with this, there are certain skills that you have to practice and achieve in the pool before even being allowed in open water. I honestly wasn't sure I was going to complete all the skills required. The Scuba Trust only meets once a month for pool sessions (one common limitation of many clubs related to disability) and so I knew I only had a few sessions to get the skills I required before going on my first holiday. As I mentioned this was during the year which I will refer to as the crazy year. I knew I had to attend all the sessions to be able to achieve what was needed. Unfortunately, this was also around the time I was also going through a family bereavement. This led to me losing time in the pool, but this wasn't the end of the dream. My instructor arranged for me to have a couple more sessions in a pool and yay I finally managed to complete all the skills. For those of you who know anything about these skills my mask clear was my nemesis, but once I got it, I turned a corner and this was the beginning of my love for Scuba Diving.

Throughout the time leading up to my first holiday, I learnt everything I needed to know about with regards to Scuba Diving and for me, one of the important aspects of this was that I was treated equally which also meant that I would not have passed if I couldn't complete the basics. That doesn't mean one size fits all as there are times something will need to be adjusted because your disability won't allow something. Having said that, the primary goal of completing the PADI Open Water is to make you are safe, so even when not able to do something in the traditional sense it would be adapted for my individual needs. The instructors with the Scuba Trust have had many years of experience teaching different people with a wide range of disabilities. I was instantly welcomed and encouraged to reach my full potential.

My first holiday with the Scuba Trust is something I will remember for a lifetime. I had been through so much throughout that year, that by the time I had achieved my first Open Water dive, I was so overwhelmed with emotion. For many reasons, firstly because I had finally achieved it and secondly the emotions of the year I had just had. I had many people supporting me from inside and outside of the Scuba Trust and without them I would have struggled to achieve what I have. I am eternally grateful to all those who supported me during this time.

I made it to the holiday! The start of the holiday for some was at Heathrow Premier Inn the night before after the monthly try dive. This meant that the early start didn’t have to be so early and that we were only down the road so had plenty of time to get there or so we thought. Once we got to Heathrow, there were lanes closed and signs galore. We parked up where we thought we were meant to be, to find that once we were unloaded we had found ourselves at the wrong terminal. So off we go; a group of people with disabilities in search of the correct terminal. During this time, we all start getting phone calls from the group leader wondering where we were. We finally arrive 30 minutes late to find that we weren’t the last ones there… one of the group was stuck in traffic. A few minutes later he appears and the holiday can officially start.

I soon realised the amount of planning and organising that had gone on before even getting to this point. Even with all this planning, the systems in place were letting us down including no record that I was even a wheelchair user. But the group leader was on the case and was able to resolve the issues we were experiencing.

Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to a couple of our group before the plane was off the ground. One of the divers had to make the difficult decision not to fly due to health issues that came on suddenly. This put a dampener on things and showed me the reality of trips like these when there are people with disabilities involved.

The flights were long but that didn’t matter I wasn’t given much time to think on the way out there as I was given my quizzes and final exam to complete. Once in Oman, we were met by a few different vehicles including a pickup truck. All of us including our wheelchairs and luggage were loaded and ready for us to go. Some of us managed to finally get to bed at around 3 am (midnight UK time) whilst a few were still up trying to sort problems with rooms etc. Finally in bed with the alarm set for 8 to be at breakfast for 9.

The first day was a fairly relaxed day with final preparations for the diving to commence the following day. For most of us, that meant lazing in and around the pool and I was beginning to learn who the biggest kids were on the trip….

Day 1 of diving and the biggest journey I was about to embark on with the first and second dives of my Open Water Course about to be completed. Dive one I was filled with great apprehension and a mix of emotions. I was finally here and about to dive for real. I watched everyone as they prepared themselves mentally and physically, being guided by others with regards to what I needed to do. Dive 1 was physically and emotionally draining but I had finally got here and was achieving what I set out to achieve. The rest of my dives went well on day 1 and day 2 of my course.

I made great progress and was finally beginning to enjoy the experience of diving. By the end of day 2 I was qualified and so was able to enjoy the rest of the holiday knowing I had achieved what I set out to achieve.

During the rest of the holiday and through diving with different people I soon realised that my learning didn’t stop on day 2 and so I continued to learn and make progress for the rest of the dives. Some lessons I learnt were tougher than others especially when trying to get my buoyancy right. Many of my notes in my logbook refer to this and some days were better than others.

For some people in the group, the diving wasn’t as spectacular as what they have been used to on previous holidays due to visibility and a lack of big marine life. For me, though this meant I could focus on myself and my diving rather than getting distracted by amazing sites and losing sight of why I was there and that was to learn how to dive.

On the last night was the mandatory awards. Many people had mishaps throughout the week which led to receiving awards. All awards were received in the manner that they were meant and that was good fun.

The final day was a relaxing day around the pool before starting the tiring journey through the night home. Some slept more than others during the flight but it was a much more subdued journey compared to the one on the way out.

To summarise my whole first experience of holidaying with the Scuba Trust; it was amazing. The diving was only part of the holiday, what made it more amazing was the support, guidance and most importantly friendships that I built on over the week. Someone referred to the Scuba Trust as family and this is how it felt. I am fairly new to the Scuba Trust but this didn’t matter. I was made to feel welcome and part of the group. To me, this is what makes these holidays special and I would like to thank everyone involved in this holiday and the support I received throughout the journey that I took to get there.

My diving experience hasn't ended there. I have also been to Mexico, where I achieved my PADI Advanced Open Water and more recently to Egypt.

Diving has been put on hold this year due to the Coronavirus Pandemic and I can't wait for when it is safe to go back to it, to feel the freedom that Scuba Diving gives me.

If you would like to know more about me and what I get up to please head over to my blog.

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