Mike Letch: The Annoyance of Gravity

By Dan Barrett

To the sport diver, Australia has long been considered one of the choicest destinations on the planet. Its pristine reefs and exotic wildlife hold the promise of adventure for divers of all levels. If PADI Assistant Instructor Mike Letch has his way, however, these waters may soon be populated by disable divers from all over the world. Letch believes the time is right for creating a paradigm shift in the diving industry, a revolution in the way of thinking that will view the disabled diver not as oddity but as a business opportunity.

Paraplegic for most of his adult life, Letch has embarked on a world tour to study approaches to disabled diving all over the globe. While the monetary needs of his quest are being funded by a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship, the drive comes from a conviction of the benefits diving holds for the disabled individual. Letch's ultimate goal is to determine psychological yardsticks by which one can measure the changes diving has on the disabled individual. Once accomplished, he's confident that he can get the support of the Australian government.

But Letch's own experiences with the life aquatic may perhaps be more telling than any academic psychological babble. Although an active individual both before and after the accident that left him paralyzed as a young adult, diving only became a serious endeavor for him five years ago. This was when a friend, Adrian Kellett of Aquability near Melbourne , convinced him to dive. Five years is a short time to reach assistant instructor status. Add to that the inconvenience of paralysis, and it's a strong testament to the effects the thrill of adventure, or, as Letch might say it, “the thrill of defying gravity,” can have on an individual.

Letch came to Diveheart after traveling for five weeks in Europe . There, he experienced all the best the continent had to offer to the disabled diver. After three days of training with Diveheart instructors Jim Elliott and Deb Dudek, however, Letch was convinced that the work Diveheart is doing with disabled and disadvantaged people “is cutting edge, and represents the current world's best practice.” These are big words coming from one who's seen the best world has to offer for the disabled diver. You can read more about Letch's impressions of his visit on the Diveheart website. Soon, the effects will be felt throughout the world.

The quest for the “best-practice techniques” for teaching SCUBA to disabled divers that brought Letch to the Diveheart offices in October, however, should also be considered a call-to-arms to the diving industry as a whole. It is the latest in a decades' old idea that the water poses few barriers to those of a wide range of abilities. SCUBA diving began because one man, Jacques Cousteau, sought rehabilitation for an injured arm. And in all countries and all times since, various individuals have appreciated the therapeutic effects of the water and have been determined to develop methods that would allow handicapped individuals to experience it as well. Mike Letch's ability to travel the globe and find active centers of disabled diving all over the world show that it is not a fringe business opportunity. Diving may be one of the few activities in which the disabled and able bodied can swim side-by-side, united by a love for adventure, the appreciation of the world's strange and awesome beauty, and an almost total disregard for e annoyance of gravity.