zacharydavis08
Registered
Howdy,
I'm new to these boards, but possibly someone can think up something I have not...
I'm totally blind, and I decided to get my SCUBA cert 5 years ago, because I'm into doing things of that nature, and also like doing things people say blind people cannot do EX: skydiving, etc.
I took the full PADI OW course, all the book work, watched the videos, did all of the pool dives, and then went to do my open water test dives. Just to find out that since I cannot see a compass, I wouldn't be able to perform the final test dive, to earn my OW... To say the least I wasn't very happy, because I'm not one to let my blindness be a barrier.
I ended up with a "scuba" certification, which technically states I have to dive with a dive master. I'm not intending to dive alone, but I strongly dislike the DM requirement. Not to mention, the prerequisite to all advanced and specialty PADI certs/training is having your OW, which I was unable to acquire. Before I discovered this lovely information, I had already set my sights upon one day becoming a blind dive master, not to actually teach others, but more for a personal achievement.
For the last 5 years I have been off and on trying to find anyone that could think of anyway possible for me to leap this one hurdle, that will at least allow me to advance in diving knowledge and certifications, even if I cannot actually attain DM certification one day.
If anyone has any ideas what soever please either post em here or drop me a PM.
Currently I dive either with full face masks, with integrated communication system, or just like other people, half-masks while just holding the arm or hand of my wife or another fellow diver. I've dove in different lakes across Texas, as well as with a German speaking dive club in eastern Germany, and have no problems...
It's very frustrating to have something as simple as 1 dive, because of a COMPASS, barring my path. Especially when I've met some people with their OWs that literally couldn't use their compass to get from point a,b,c because they were trained so poorly in its use.
I had a dive instructor contact PADI a year or 2 ago, to see if there was any sort of modification possible to the requirements, but they stated the "swim a straight line" etc navigation test had to be performed fully unaided.
Thanks for your help guys, I'm still determined to eventually advance somehow!
P.S:
If any people interested in diving blind etc have any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM as well.
Zach
I'm new to these boards, but possibly someone can think up something I have not...
I'm totally blind, and I decided to get my SCUBA cert 5 years ago, because I'm into doing things of that nature, and also like doing things people say blind people cannot do EX: skydiving, etc.
I took the full PADI OW course, all the book work, watched the videos, did all of the pool dives, and then went to do my open water test dives. Just to find out that since I cannot see a compass, I wouldn't be able to perform the final test dive, to earn my OW... To say the least I wasn't very happy, because I'm not one to let my blindness be a barrier.
I ended up with a "scuba" certification, which technically states I have to dive with a dive master. I'm not intending to dive alone, but I strongly dislike the DM requirement. Not to mention, the prerequisite to all advanced and specialty PADI certs/training is having your OW, which I was unable to acquire. Before I discovered this lovely information, I had already set my sights upon one day becoming a blind dive master, not to actually teach others, but more for a personal achievement.
For the last 5 years I have been off and on trying to find anyone that could think of anyway possible for me to leap this one hurdle, that will at least allow me to advance in diving knowledge and certifications, even if I cannot actually attain DM certification one day.
If anyone has any ideas what soever please either post em here or drop me a PM.
Currently I dive either with full face masks, with integrated communication system, or just like other people, half-masks while just holding the arm or hand of my wife or another fellow diver. I've dove in different lakes across Texas, as well as with a German speaking dive club in eastern Germany, and have no problems...
It's very frustrating to have something as simple as 1 dive, because of a COMPASS, barring my path. Especially when I've met some people with their OWs that literally couldn't use their compass to get from point a,b,c because they were trained so poorly in its use.
I had a dive instructor contact PADI a year or 2 ago, to see if there was any sort of modification possible to the requirements, but they stated the "swim a straight line" etc navigation test had to be performed fully unaided.
Thanks for your help guys, I'm still determined to eventually advance somehow!
P.S:
If any people interested in diving blind etc have any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM as well.
Zach