The Power of Scuba…

SKIING VS DIVING…Which sport is more powerful in helping to change the life a disabled child, adult or veteran? Which sport offers more adventure? More physical therapeutic value to the participant?

Which sport is more effective in creating a paradigm shift in the way the disabled person thinks? …helping them focus on what they can do instead of what they can't do?

Certainly, Skiing has had a head start in that area. In fact it is skiing that inspired my founding the Diveheart Foundation.

It was skiing that helped change the life of my nine year old blind daughter and my experience with the American Blind Skiing Foundation that helped shape my beliefs and motivate me to leave a successful career with a major media company…..risk it all ….and start a totally volunteer, not for profit organization that would help disabled children and adults….through scuba diving.

Fifty years ago it was virtually unheard of for a disabled person to be able to ski Aspen or Vail. Today almost every major ski resort in the world has some accommodations for disabled skiers.

It is one of Diveheart's goals to, within a generation or less, bring the disabled dive industry to the same standard as the disabled ski industry.

It is one of Diveheart's goals to help facilitate effective disabled dive programs around the world. Making it possible for someone who is blind, has a cognitive disability or is in a wheelchair to have professional and empathetic dive instructors & operators ….& accessible dive opportunities at resorts, dive destinations and dive shops anywhere in the world.

Skiing vs diving….which is more powerful. I'm sure enthusiasts of each sport could argue for hours about the benefits, advantages and power of each sport.

Whichever side of the argument you fall on is less important than knowing that you can employ either sport to make a difference in the life of someone with a disability.

In less than a generation Diveheart hopes to make the dive industry more accessible, more knowledgeable and a bit more empathic to the disabled dive community.

Every day more and more divers, shop & resort owners, instructors and others in the dive industry discover the magic and power that scuba diving has in the lives of those with disabilities.

The disabled dive community may be the fastest growing segment of the diving industry, and with your help and other Friends of Diveheart we can keep that momentum going and change the lives of children, adults and veterans with disabilities.

Disabled divers have told me…almost to a person…."IF I CAN SCUBA DIVE …I CAN DO ANYTHING"…. isn't that the mindset we want to create.

If we can send a disabled child forward in the world believing that they can do anything….then we have really done something….

Who knows? The next Jacques Cousteau may be in a wheel chair….