The Equality of Diving

By Dan Barrett

The Diveheart philosophy emphasizes the equality the water provides for people with disabilities. Understandably, most think of this equality in physical terms. Water provides balance, it offers stability. It allows a mobility-challenged individual a short time in which to shun the law of gravity and feel, in a way, like anyone else.

But as Diveheart founder and president Jim Elliott is quick to point out, he had a much grander interpretation of equality.

"When I founded Diveheart, I was trying to create challenging environments in which handicapped and able-bodied people could participate together. I believed in this way both groups could learn more about each other and gain a deeper respect for one another."

And for four days this May a group of divers tested this philosophy in the waters off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico. Among them were the usual suspects you’d find on a dive boat: new divers, seasoned divers, those who dive every chance they get, and those that hadn’t taken a dive for a few years. But there were also two paraplegic divers and two divers with visual impairments. While the odd sights of wheelchairs and white canes on a dive boat would have prompted pause in anyone who may have passed by, when the group got into the water, no such distinctions would exist. There, they simply were all fellow adventurers.

While these newsletters customarily profile a particular handicapped diver or Diveheart supporter, here no such distinctions are made. Each diver’s individual story will be given its proper time and emphasis. For the moment, there are no individual heroes, there are many. There are the handicapped divers who were not content to accept their supposed limitations and dive buddies who offered their selfless assistance to make their dreams a reality. More importantly, there is the collective spirit of all these individuals, the spirit that magically merged to create something extraordinary. While each diver breathed from his or her own air tank, it was their collective spirit that sustained them all.

This is why it’s inaccurate to think of the equality the water provides simply in physical terms. When we dive with a buddy, handicapped or otherwise, we each rely on one another. We are nourished by one another. Under the water, we could very well need our buddy’s air or buoyancy, regardless of whether he or she is handicapped or able-bodied. Diving promotes equality among all not only for the added control it gives to some, like the increased movement of the legs or arms, but also for the control it takes from others, like potential reliance on another’s air supply. It’s difficult to retain prejudice, to entertain preconceived perceptions of ability, when one realizes that paralyzed, amputated, or sight impaired individual gliding along next to them could potentially be their lifeline back to the surface.

So, as the handicapped and able-bodied divers glided along on the gentle currents off the Cozumel coast, they moved as one. Their individual stories will be told in time, but, for the moment, let us just consider them as a whole. Let us consider them lovers of adventure, lovers of a challenge. Let us consider them selfless and trusting. Most of all, let us consider them believers in the idea that equality is measured not in terms of physical or mental ability but instead in the willingness of each human spirit to trust in one another.