I raised a blind child, guided and taught blind skiers for decades and have worked with blind divers since i became a scuba instructor over twenty years ago. With the rise of standard scuba training agencies getting into the adaptive scuba business i thought it important to bring up a controversial question among some scuba instructors. Can and should a totally blind person who "technically" completes all the confined and open water scuba skills from their standard training agency get an openwater scuba certification that allows them to dive with just one buddy? Your thoughts? We've tried to address this and other adaptive scuba training issues here http://www.diveheart.org/training/get-started/From Jim Elliott, Diveheart Founder & President #safediving#adaptivescubatraining #disabled #handicapped #disabilities #blind#scubatherapy #scubatraining
Is one buddy enough for the totally blind diver?
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My concern about a single buddy for a blind diver would be this: Who is going to help the adaptive diver's buddy if that buddy has a problem underwater, and there is no one else around? However, I assume you have addressed that contingency, and have some protocols for that situation that you would care to share.
If the blind buddy can’t rescue the sighted buddy in the event of an emergency then the sighted buddy is effectively diving solo.
If the sighted buddy becomes incapacitated for any reason then the blind diver is now on their own, now placing both of them in a higher risk situation.
Best practice would be to have a threesome, two sighted divers with the blind buddy. At least one should be trained as an adaptive buddy. (And can use it as a training opportunity if the other sighted buddy hasn’t been exposed to adaptive scuba.)
If the sighted buddy becomes incapacitated for any reason then the blind diver is now on their own, now placing both of them in a higher risk situation.
Best practice would be to have a threesome, two sighted divers with the blind buddy. At least one should be trained as an adaptive buddy. (And can use it as a training opportunity if the other sighted buddy hasn’t been exposed to adaptive scuba.)
АлександрД
Contributor
Blind diver should have THREE buddies!
This is maximal and safe conditions for diving with blind diver in any environments.
Reason - In case of problems with blind diver buddy (first) - second buddy should helps to first buddy, and third buddy should stay with blind diver. And they should start to descent.
Depends on other conditions or if buddies has Solo diving abilities, Blind diver can have two buddies. Solo-buddy could solve his own problems, and another buddy will stay with blind.
And in case of shallow water, very safe outer environment (like diving in the pool), without any dangers on the surface - blind diver can have just one. Any problems - descend immidiatelly.
I had some experience with diving with my blind friend. Just in the pool. equipment for blind divers
This is maximal and safe conditions for diving with blind diver in any environments.
Reason - In case of problems with blind diver buddy (first) - second buddy should helps to first buddy, and third buddy should stay with blind diver. And they should start to descent.
Depends on other conditions or if buddies has Solo diving abilities, Blind diver can have two buddies. Solo-buddy could solve his own problems, and another buddy will stay with blind.
And in case of shallow water, very safe outer environment (like diving in the pool), without any dangers on the surface - blind diver can have just one. Any problems - descend immidiatelly.
I had some experience with diving with my blind friend. Just in the pool. equipment for blind divers
In this case, though, the Solo-buddy is no worse-off than if diving solo, anyway. (Leaving aside the possibility of becoming involved in a situation, by acting as a buddy in the first place.)
The biggest issue that I see in the whole scenario is that unless the team is using comms, the blind diver is to a large extent a "deaf" diver too. What I mean by this is that communication to the deaf-diver underwater must be through touch signal or a bone-conduction channel. Both are difficult to accomplish rapidly, with complexity, and without immediate proximity. So if one support-diver has to assist the second support-diver in a triad team, the blind-diver is likely to be left almost instantly and at least temporarily un-supported (maybe not a huge issue if conditions are otherwise benign) and importantly, largely ignorant as to what may be going on with the support team. (Going down that road far-enough in severity of the issue {serious medical issue, O2 tox, etc.}, it would be a very complex task for one support diver to perform a full-blown rescue of the other support-diver, while also managing the ascent of any diver under their support. But arguably a very-low-probability event.) Big question - can the blind diver operate without assistance or guidance for a long enough period of time, on their own, without direct support, while maintaining position (well-enough) and without panicking, for the support team to sort things out and get the blind diver back under supervision and communication.
I would think that the 2-support divers should both be fully solo/self-reliant trained/equipped so that almost any issue can be dealt with individually without removing support of the assisted diver. Comms would at also allow the blind-diver to receive guidance and status updates to better allow them to operate, with confidence, semi-autonomously.
If only one support diver was being utilized, that diver should not only be fully self-reliant, but trained to the standard of DM/Instructor in being able to self rescue while simultaneously managing a diver requiring immediate supervision.
Part of it comes down to how good/experienced/self-reliant is the blind diver. Analogy: there is likely to be a big difference between the newly certified OW diver and the 1000+ dive blackwater-experienced wreck diver when SHTF. Maybe a staged certification that allows less supervision as the blind diver progresses ...
My eyesight is fairly typical, but I have a multiple hundred hours in true 0 viz diving. It's also the environment our participants learn to dive in. (not only low viz, 0 viz)
With proper touch protocol and equipment I am an effective buddy sightless and sighted. Let's not forget how skilled a diver without sight can be.
But if I'm diving sightless, ideally I want a buddy with hundreds of hours of blackwater experience too to understand how to communicate with me and respond correctly to my signals.
From my perspective, adding an extra inexperienced dive buddy (or 2) just adds to the complexity of the dive with no increased safety.
One well trained and equipped buddy is good if not solo diving. (I feel safest solo when diving sightless.)
Cameron
With proper touch protocol and equipment I am an effective buddy sightless and sighted. Let's not forget how skilled a diver without sight can be.
But if I'm diving sightless, ideally I want a buddy with hundreds of hours of blackwater experience too to understand how to communicate with me and respond correctly to my signals.
From my perspective, adding an extra inexperienced dive buddy (or 2) just adds to the complexity of the dive with no increased safety.
One well trained and equipped buddy is good if not solo diving. (I feel safest solo when diving sightless.)
Cameron
3 dive pros for the reason that if one has a problem, the second can help that person, while the third watches the diver.
How many dive pros would you require for a discover scuba class with a single student? How is that situation any different?
If you have an instructor and an uncertified person doing a DSD, what happens if that instructor becomes incapacitated? Same situation, right? No one available to help the instructor. And agencies allow two or more uncertified divers with a single instructor doing DSD.
So DSD and a sightless diver would be in the same category in terms of the number of pros that you would need. The difference would be that for the latter situation, the pro should also be trained as an adaptive buddy (which not all are).
Good points. I was going by the DDI recommendations for dealing with a quadriplegic diver. Obviously blindness and paralysis of arms & legs are not the same thing. In the former, how would I communicate that there is an issue. I cannot expect them to donate (I'm saying this under the premise that not all instructors are equipped/skilled in self reliance). In the latter, they wouldn't be able to assist.
For myself, I'd take a single blind diver by myself. I just don't recommend that to everyone. Though one could make the argument that if an instructor cannot take care of themselves, they have no business with diving with someone with a disability as discussed here.
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