Rocky Mountain Adaptive Aquatics

Improving the Quality of Life (QoL) for Divers Living with Disabilities - The 2021 goal is to change the lives of more people living with disabilities and their families by improving their QoL using the sporting activity of scuba diving. DAD was formed by scuba diving enthusiasts who search for good diving and even better comradery and friendship. Being able to share this wonderous world with people who have disabilities heightens the sense of community for those with disabilities, their families and those who bring them into the underwater world. Scuba diving enriches the QoL for all who participate but has a major impact on those with disabilities. The program promotes health, both physically and mentally. Participation removes everyday barriers when diving while creating a sense of equality with everyone else. This life-changing experience brings joy, a new sense of freedom and accomplishment while providing a comradery with other divers. QoL is brought about due to the freedom of being weightless when neutrally buoyant while diving and finding a “flow” {a phenomenon where a person “becomes so engrossed in the activity that nothing else seems to matter, as the person’s attention is entirely devoted to the engagement in the activity” (Carin-Levy & Jones, 2007, p. 7)}. This condition of flow results in a relaxed state of mind and is physically beneficial due to low impact exercise. The sense of freedom is achieved when not needing a wheelchair, crutches, or prosthetics to feel supported while underwater. The sense of equality is created by everyone looking and acting the same under the water. Everyone is using a tank, regulator, BCD, mask and fins. This results in a higher self-confidence and self-esteem as adaptations to the equipment allow the diver to perform as many of the skills as possible on their own. Depression is often replaced with exhilaration and awe of the beauty of a whole new world below the surface of the ocean. The sense of achievement is obtained by doing a sport that most often the participant would not believe is possible which is often true for first time divers with or without disabilities. These QoL characteristics often lead to the individual promoting change in their life activities beyond the scuba diving experience. It is within the existence of this symbiotic relationship that new adventures unfold. DAD wants to bring the wonder of the diving community to those who often believe that opportunity is outside their reach or life circumstances. Our training for potential new divers and buddies teaches them to do the activity safely. It is, however, the entry into the new world below the surface of the sea that brings freedom, joy, a sense of accomplishment and often a new purpose to life itself. DAD plans to significantly impact the lives of the people living with disabilities using scuba diving.

Collaboration – Identifying Suitable Individuals to serve
Since the beginning of our adaptive scuba program when five instructors from Denver Divers participated in the specialized training necessary to teach people living with disabilities to scuba dive, the efforts to reach the population living with disabilities has been oriented at partnering with other nonprofit entities that also serve the same groups. The specialized training includes required skills necessary to train a population living with physical and mental disabilities including:
• Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Parkinson’s Disease (early stage)
• ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease (early stage)
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS) (early stage)
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Sensory disabilities of hearing and visual impairment
• Cognitive disabilities such as PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), autism and other conditions that, in the mild state, are included in those that DAD serves.

DAD will continue training Instructors and volunteers to meet the needs of the population that DAD serves. DAD will also be expanding the fund raising efforts to include grants from foundations with similar goals and interests while continuing fund raising through donations and gifts.

The remarkable growth of DAD led to the need for a Board of Directors and Medical Advisory Board to guide future endeavors. DAD sought to attract board members with significant experience in scuba training; fund raising; nonprofit management; and services for adaptive athletes. In each we found that spirit that inspires others to strive for personal success. The Board of Directors are all significant financial donors as well as contributing their time and expertise at no cost to the organization. The instructor staff has in excess 250 years of teaching experience. The medical advisory committee areas of expertise cover a wide range in both the physical and cognitive disciplines and all are part of the program as Certified Dive Buddies accompanying the group on the dive trips.
Denver Adaptive Divers has been honored and privileged to have drawn the interest of many of the diving family members of Denver Divers. In addition to all Board of Directors and all members of the Medical Advisory Board who contribute their time and expertise to DAD many other divers have come forth to get involved in any way they can. Many desired to become certified dive buddies to help with participants in Try Scuba and later in the training of future adaptive divers. Currently there are over 20 certified dive buddies and 12 more to enter training soon.
Others have contributed in helping with social media exposure and updates making sure that the population has as much chance to read about and subsequently get involved with the program. The creation of event calendars, Facebook updates, postings in the Denver Diver newsletter and other media awareness means. In conjunction with the collaborative relationships of other nonprofits serving the population, DAD has been abled to develop a much wider exposure.
The work of Janine Melberg and volunteers has done a terrific job with our fund-raising events of our annual dinner and underwater poker tournament which to date has been the sources of the dollar donations to DAD, that permits the participation and growth experienced in the program.
Denver Divers and Denver Adaptive Divers operate through the international certification agency, Scuba Schools International (SSI). One of the world’s two largest certification agencies, SSI has spent years developing a training program for divers with physical disabilities.
Rather than “classify” all disabled divers as the same, SSI has developed three levels of the Open Water Diver certification to include adaptive divers. There are required skills for an able-bodied person to demonstrate obtain the Open Water Certification. The level of classification for divers with disabilities is based on the skills on which the adaptive diver needs assistance, and the number of Certified Dive Buddies that are needed to keep the adaptive diver safe. This has been the successful combination that has led to the success to date and will drive the continuing success for years to come.

At the base of the DAD program lies a talented and generous group of individuals that have taken their training as Instructors and enhanced those skills by training to meet the varied needs of the disabled population. A key to success is to adapt to the individual’s specific needs (such as altering wet suits with zippers around the elbows and knees to make it easier to don the suit, or adapting the communication process between diver and team to understand and address a need) to create a safe, fun and life changing experience. Assessing triggering actions for each individual and developing an “early warning” signal to use underwater to communicate distress from diver to instructor can be a critical function if the diver is becoming distressed. Dive instructors and volunteers are trained to recognize and mitigate triggering actions. They in turn, pass this along to a family member who is trained to become the individual’s Certified Dive Buddy. To date DAD has introduced the sport of scuba diving to more than 100 individuals living with disabilities and has certified more than 30 adaptive divers and an equal number of family members as Certified Dive Buddies making this activity one that will last a lifetime.
DAD has expanded the number of Instructors from the original five to now boasting twenty. The number of volunteers that have been trained to work inside the program has grown to more than thirty. This ranks among the most for those associated with a dive shop anywhere in the United States.
Funding is obviously needed to pay for the program components. For that reason, Denver Adaptive Divers (DAD) was formed in 2016 and received its IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in February of 2017. The fund raising to date has almost exclusively been done through fund raiser dinners and contributions by the customers of Denver Divers and others that wanted to sponsor the program. In 2016 the event raised $18,000.00 which funded two individuals and their Certified Dive Buddies. The program has grown each year with the event in January 2020 raising $100,000.00.
DAD has built relationships with more than a dozen nonprofits serving the population of those living with disabilities. It will continue to develop those type of relationships to continue the growth of the program.