'Regular Agency' Standards re: disabilities?

[rickydazla]

The dive shop I work for are going to be hosting a Dive Heart organised even at some point this year and I had a question or two. As you may know, Dive Heart provide HSA courses.

What I wondered was whether any of the 'regular' dive certifying agencies had any explicit standards/protocols/procedures with regards to conducting try dives and/or courses with disabled individuals?

I did a quick search and found the following from NAUI:

Q: What are NAUI's policies regarding Scuba Diving and the disabled?
A: The answer to this question may be found in the following excerpt from our Second Quarter, 1997 issue of Sources.

NAUI Guidelines for Evaluating Individuals with Disabilities

NAUI seeks to be in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The screening of applicants for diver training is explained in detail in the NAUI Risk Management Handbook. The following statement only applies to individuals with disability(ies) seeking diver training or diving supervision.

Prerequisites for Admission to Training/Supervision
In addition to regular screening for medical contraindications, NAUI Instructors and Divemasters must complete a risk assessment considering the individual nature of the disability(ies) as it pertains to a probably direct threat to others. If there is none and reasonable accommodations can be made for the individual, then the disability cannot be a basis for not admitting the person for training/supervision. All possible reasonable accommodations should be made to train those individuals with disabilities.

Certification
Only those individuals who meet the NAUI Standards requirements for a particular certification shall be certified. These requirements are in place for reasonable and necessary means and are not to be altered.

Adaptive Scuba Diver Program
If an individual's disabilities preclude that person from successfully completing any skill required for certification, he/she may be credentialed under NAUI's "Adaptive Scuba Diver Program."

Does anyone have any information with regards PADI/SSI/BSAC or any others?

 

[Kingpatzer]

PADI basically says that accomidations should be made for those with disabilities, and alternatives to the required skills can be developed between the instructor and the student to allow the student to sucessfully dive.

 

[knotical]

Kingpatzer is correct.

The key sentence from the PADI instructor manual is:

PADI Members can suggest adaptive techniques and make reasonable accommodations to assist individuals with disabilities in learning diving skills.

However, to receive certification, students must still:

satisfactorily fulfill all performance requirements for the particular certification level.

But:

if unable to fulfill the certification performance requirements . . ., they may participate in confined water training sessions, Discover Scuba Diving experiences.

 

[Don Wray]

But they can go through here: Handicap Scuba Association
I am going to go through the instructor's course through them this fall.

Sorry OP, I started reading the first line and as this is something I'm extremely interested in, I didn't finish the rest of the post before spouting off. Memphis has a large Veteran's hospital and I want to give something back to those guys and gals. I am looking forward to the course. As far as PADI and NAUI, while the standards for their open water courses have been addressed, however, HSA was developed in conjunction with those 2 agencies.

 

[do it easy]

Some of the "regular agencies" offer handicapped programs. SDI has a Scubabilty program, and I have a PADI custom distinctive specialty for "Physically Impaired Buddy Diver" which is similar to an HSA buddy cert for able-bodied divers.

The biggest difference between the "regular agencies" and handicapped diving agencies, like HSA and IAHD, is that the handicapped diving agencies have specific certification levels for handicapped divers.

With HSA, there are 3 levels of certification, depending on the handicapped diver's ability. There are other guidelines, but loosely, the levels are:
level A - if they are capable of assisting a buddy
level B - if they can rescue themselves, but not a buddy
level C - if they are incapable of rescuing themselves

A level A diver would be able to dive with a buddy, while a level C diver would need 3 buddies, so that one buddy could assist another if he/she had problems. I hope that's clear enough.

Keep in mind that disabilities are as unique as the person- some divers only need assistance to get into the water, while other's might need help on the surface as well. I believe Arthur C Clarke, who just passed away, was a diver with post-polio syndrome. He said, "I'm perfectly operational underwater." The weightlessness of water doesn't know the difference from one diver to the next.

 

[rickydazla]

With HSA, there are 3 levels of certification, depending on the handicapped diver's ability. There are other guidelines, but loosely, the levels are:
level A - if they are capable of assisting a buddy
level B - if they can rescue themselves, but not a buddy
level C - if they are incapable of rescuing themselves

A level A diver would be able to dive with a buddy, while a level C diver would need 3 buddies, so that one buddy could assist another if he/she had problems. I hope that's clear enough.

Keep in mind that disabilities are as unique as the person- some divers only need assistance to get into the water, while other's might need help on the surface as well.

That was roughly my understanding but thanks for clarifying.

Do you know whether any of the regular agencies have any explicit standards like those above, or do they leave it to individual instructors to assess the risk on a client-by-client basis?

As a certified instructor of any given regular agency, is it breaking any standards to take/teach people with disabilities without any specialty certs, ie is it strictly a requirement to have an HSA (or equivalent) cert or is it just nice to have?

 

[bobh_60435]

Similarly, SDI has multi level certification which is determined more or less by one's ability for self rescue and buddy rescue.

 

[scubadale]

That was roughly my understanding but thanks for clarifying.

Do you know whether any of the regular agencies have any explicit standards like those above, or do they leave it to individual instructors to assess the risk on a client-by-client basis?

As a certified instructor of any given regular agency, is it breaking any standards to take/teach people with disabilities without any specialty certs, ie is it strictly a requirement to have an HSA (or equivalent) cert or is it just nice to have?

You saw the NAUI standards posted above. They are sufficiently vague to scare the heck out of me. I am looking to become certified with HSA as they have developed a program that would allow me to certify and I would feel comfortable issuing a NAUI cert if the student was able to meet the NAUI standards. But I am not really into reinventing the wheel if HSA has already done it.

 

[Rescuediver17063]

Just a note, you could also check into the IAHD (IAHD 10 year Anniversary). I am an HSA, as well as IAHD instructor. Both programs have there differences, and it is up to the instructor to research and decide which one is more adaptable to their needs. I have been teaching persons with special needs since 1996, and have found I use different things from both programs.

 

[singgirl]

Hi I just wanted to find some information for my husband. We were rescue divers and then my husband lost his right leg just abouve the ankel. We want to go diving again but do not know were to find any types of items to assist in diving. The single finning is not good for balance and not sure about using a propeller device. do you have any infomation where to find affordable diving devices for my husband? Thanks Singgirl