It's been postulated that water may be the great equalizer. As avid diver Matthew Dawton puts it, "I don't need my wheelchair under water. I'm released in the constraints of gravity to drift weightless in another world." In short, you can do a lot of things in the water that you cannot do on land.
So, it's really no amaze that diving is really a popular activity among wheelchair users. What has come about as an unexpected, though, is that even folks with high-level injuries or little movement can savor the sport. The bottom line is obtaining the right instruction and assistance, and that is in which the Handicapped Scuba Association (HSA) comes in.
Founded in 1981 by Jim Gatacre, the HSA offers diver education programs, instructor training courses, and accessible dive holidays. This nonprofit organization also educates the city on accessibility issues through their volunteer programs and works together with rehabilitation hospitals to incorporate HSA diving classes in their outpatient programs.
HSA's instructor training is intensive and therefore are available to dive instructors wanting to sharpen their teaching skills. In addition to attending 10 hours of lectures about disability issues, instructors participate in a number of confined and open-water exercises made to simulate different disabilities.
Using this method, they could experience what it really might seem like to dive having a disability, and for that reason the teachers become more responsive to the problems disabled divers face.
HSA's open-water dive certification programs are then taught at dive schools round the world by these well-trained instructors. Safety factors are several one priority with all of HSA-certified instructors, with no one ever dives alone.
As you can imagine, diving reveals a variety of possibilities for travel, and, as luck might say, the HSA also organizes yearly diving trips. These trips are a good chance to meet other divers and revel in a very beautiful yet accessible vacation. All destinations are researched and evaluated for wheelchair accessibility, along with a HSA-certified instructor exists on all trips. The HSA also keeps a listing of accessible dive resorts and rates them based on their accessibility.
And, in certain cases, the HSA actually raises the accessibility of the dive resorts they visit. Such is the situation using the Divi Flamingo Bonaire, a popular haunt of HSA divers. Back in 1984, once the HSA planned their first visit to Bonaire, Jim contacted the dog owner of the Divi Flamingo and requested that several ramps be placed in spot for easier use of the resort.
Because this was at any given time when access in the Caribbean was almost nonexistent, nobody really knew what to anticipate. In the end, the group arrived to locate ramps to almost every section of the resort as well as an enthusiastic owner anxious to make more access improvements.
Through the years, additional access features happen to be put into the resort, including wheelchair-accessible guest rooms with roll-in showers. The Divi Flamingo also offers a dive boat with roll-on access, so that divers who cannot walk needn't be lifted aboard. Additionally, the little capital of scotland - Kralendijk, that also has very good access, is simply a short roll away.
Another Caribbean dive resort that gets kudos for access may be the Bay Islands Beach Resort in Roatan, Honduras. In addition to using HSA-certified instructors on the dive staff , the resort itself features good access. The free guest rooms have wide doorways, ramped thresholds and bathrooms with roll-in showers, toilet and shower grab bars and handheld showerheads. Additionally, you will find accessible boardwalk pathways through the resort and ramps right down to the beach.
And when you want to live, breathe and sleep diving, then subscribe to per week aboard the accessible Fiji Aggressor, a live-aboard dive boat. Constructed with input in the HSA the Fiji Aggressor has wheelchair-accessible staterooms with wide doorways, level thresholds and good pathway access.
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Note: This article was sent to us by: Calvin Hayes at 07192011
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