Deep Blue Freedom

Narration: Welcome to Handisub. Episode 3: Handisub.
Andrew: VisionFree Diving was created to share the passion of scuba diving and to raise awareness for it as a viable and enriching sport for people with disabilities, especially those who are blind or visually-impaired. In this episode, we talk about Handisub, the system for handicap divers in France. But first, as usual, we have a couple of people for you to meett. So close your eyes, take a deep breath and join us as we go VisionFree Diving.

Esther: Hi everyone. My name is Esther. I live in France in the suburbs of Paris. I like to travel and I also like all of the activities that have to do with water. I used to be a swimmer and now I am a member of a scuba diving club.
Pascale: Bonjour, je m’appele Pascale Sejourné,
Narration (translation for Pascale): I live in Vincennes. My 2 passions are diving or the ocean in general: diving to be in the sea, navigation on the water in a boat and away from the coast. My second passion is dancing, i like to be active but doing something that always brings joy.

Esther: I was bornwith Aniridia, which is a genetic eye disorder. It means that you have a total absence of the iris and it means that I am really sensitive to light and my cornea is in bad condition and my visual acuity is low.
Narration (translation for Pascale): I’ve been a diver since 1996. Ever since i was a little girl i liked to swim and look at what was under the water and back then i didn’t know that diving existed. One day I watched the movie Le Grand Bleu and i felt such a feeling of well being and I realized that the ambiance underwater was the atmosphere I was looking for and I knew that’s what I wanted. I signed up for a diving club and I loved it. All i wanted is to dive again.

Esther: I tried swimming, which I really liked, but I also knew about diving and I was really curious. I had a lot of people talking to me about it with different opinions and I wanted to have my own opinion so I just decided to go to a club and try it.

Narration (translation for Pascale): I think what inspires visually impaired or blind people to dive is this feeling of well being. like being weightless. we are very much into the sensations. It’s a small silent world so i think it’s quite relaxing for blind people who are very dependant on their hearing all day. What blind people also say is that they don’t have this constant fear of running into something. they have this feeling of freedom and as I said earlier this feeling of weightlessness. anyways, when i teach diving to non disabled the only way to progress is to focus on listening to your body and the only way to do this is to ignore all that you see around you. So sometimes to help the non-handicap progress, i make them close their eyes and that way they have more sensations and in diving when we focus more on the feelings, we are better divers and better at stabilization.

Narration: In 2006, a couple of blind people approached a Handisub instructor by the name of Dr. Jacques Piquet and expressed their desire to scuba dive. HandiSub was reluctant. Their primary concern was the potential risk of harm to blind people's ears, but Dr. Piquet and the blind people were persistent. After some negotiations, Handisub agreed.

At first, the instructors placed ropes in the pool in order to ensure the blind people would descend at a controled rate and be able to clear their ears. The blind people quickly tired of using the ropes and asked if they could just dive like everyone else. The instructors removed the ropes and the blind people were given the opportunity to experience for themselves the true freedom of diving.

This story highlights an important aspect of the relationship between Handisub divers and their instructors. Handisub instructors and their handicap divers work side by side to refine and improve upon all facets of the adaptive scuba diving experience. As an example, Blind divers were an indispensable part of establishing the tactile hand signals now used between Handisub blind and visually-impaired divers and their instructors. Once the hand signals had been agreed upon, they were further tested during a diving trip to Egypt. The entire process took almost three years.

Andrew: Today, attempts are being made to unify the tactile hand signals across Europe and blind divers from at least two clubs, including myself and one of the leaders from my club, are playing an essential role in this process. People with disabilities in France have been able to dive since around 1997 with FFH (Fédération Française Handisport).

Narration: Handisub not only governs scuba diving for people with disabilities, but is the only organization of the three we will examine that offers freediving training and certification. Since this podcast focuses primarily on Scuba diving, we will not go into detail regarding the freediving program, but if anyone is curious, feel free to write an e-mail to diving@visionfreeaccess.net and we will be happy to provide additional information or if enough interest is expressed, we will consider one or more episodes dedicated to the topic.

Esther :FFESSM established four levels of certification for handicap scuba divers under Handisub. The levels are all designated as PESH or Plongeur en situation handicap: PESH6, PESH12, PESH20 and PESH40.

Narration: The number at the end of each level' indicates the maximum depth in meters for that level. Likewise, F-F-E-S-S-M established four levels of instructor certification: EH1, EH2, MFEH1 and MFEH2. It should be noted here that we do not use the term buddy or an equivalent like Diveheart and HSA use. This is because each level, starting with EH1, is an instructor level. Except in cases in which the handicap diver requires a significant amount of assistance, the majority of handisub divers, including blind and visually-impaired, dive with only one instructor. Since most PESH divers dive and are taught one-on-one by a qualified instructor, each session can be tailored to the individual diver's needs. For example, if diver A and diver B are both blind, but diver A wants to learn how to deploy a DSMB and diver B wishes to work on hovering, this is easily accomplished in the same session.

Andrew: Before continuing, we should explain how France trains its scuba divers, even those with no disability.

Narration: Those who are familiar with PADI, or similar certifying agency, will know that to obtain scuba training, one enrolls in a course, pays necessary fees and upon completion of the course, receives the associated certification.

Andrew: If additional certifications or skills are desired, one must enroll in another scuba course.

Narration: To illustrate, PADI open water is a course, Advanced Open Water is a separate course and enriched air diver (nitrox) is yet another course.

Andrew: The system is quite different here. In france, divers register in a club which meets weekly during the school year. As skills are learn and mastered by each diver, they are submitted for validation by an instructor at the level consistent with the skills achieved.

Narration: Therefore, a diver can obtain as many levels for which they can prove they have the skill. This unique approach allows divers to maintain, review and improve upon skills in between open water dives without additional cost.

Andrew: I joined my club in the last week of September of last year and prior to my trip to Egypt, I was validated for PESH12. Shortly after I returned from that trip, my club validated me for PESH20.

Narration: As we are all aware, even people who have the same disability have varying skills and abilities. This is especially apparent in scuba diving, where technical skills must be physically proven in order to obtain certification. However, Handisub's goal, like Diveheart and HSA, is to find a way for anyone who wants to dive, to be able to do so. But what if someone cannot perform a skill because of their disability? For example, someone who has no use of their arms cannot perform a regulator recovery independently. Regulator recovery is required to advance beyond the first PESH level. Handisub believes that, if at all possible, the diver should not be limited due to a disability. Therefore, in this particular case, the diver would likely dive with a full-face mask and a medical doctor, recognized by Handisub, would consider regulator recovery to be a medical exemption, thereby permitting the diver to advance to higher PESH levels without having to prove mastery of this particular skill. This system provides flexibility and fosters maximum independence while still keeping safety at the forefront of all that they do.

The training for each PESH level is composed of five competencies. Competency 1 is further divided into two parts.
Competency 1A: Using the equipment.
Competency 1B: Behaviors and techniques at the surface.
Competency 2: Immersion and returning to the surface.
Competency 3: Control of Breathing while diving.
Competency 4: Reactions to common situations
Competency 5: Basic Theoretical Knowledge.

Here is a summary of the skills and abilities of each level. Since PESH 6 is a beginner level, we'll start with PESH 12.
PESH 12:
Ability to progress in a supervised team in water to a maximum depth of 12 meters.
Proficiency in the use of personal equipment, including scuba with buoyancy compensator.
Mastery of entry, immersion and return to the surface at a controlled rate.
Controlling breathing and maintaining buoyancy.
Knowledge of common signs.
Integration into a guided team. Respect for the environment and safety rules. Ability to assess within a team, even a mixed group, supervised by a specialized teacher in water to a maximum depth of 12 meters.

PESH 20:
Mastery of all skills from PESH 12.
Ability to progress in a supervised team in water down to a depth of 20 meters.
Control of propulsion and stabilization.
Control of ascent rate and maintaining a safety stop.
Knowledge of signs and appropriate responses, mastery of communication with teammates. Integration into a guided team with being able to look after others.
Ability to progress in a team or in groups supervised by a specialized teacher in water from 0 to 20 meters.

PESH 40:
Mastery of all skills from PESH 20.
Control of propulsion and stabilization.
Control of descent speed during immersion.
Maintain a safety stop with a DSMB.
Knowledge of the signs specific to this depth and mastery of the speed of responses.
Mastery of a safe ascent in the event of loss of a team.
Ability to progress in a team or in a team supervised by a specialized teacher, in water from 0 to 40 meters.

To become a Handisub instructor, it's necessary to first become an instructor for the non-handicap divers. The first level of instructor certification is E1. Handisub is simply an additional specialization. However, before we discuss the different levels of Handisub instructors, we need to define and explain two terms: moderate handicap and major handicap.

As it pertains to handisub, a moderate or major handicap is determine solely upon what impact a person's disability has on their ability to perform basic diving skills. Handisub also considers that handicaps can change or be progressive. Therefore, it is possible for someone to go from having a moderate disability to having a major disability or vice versa. In order to test if someone's disability is moderate or major, instructors watch to see if the person with a handicap can perform the folloowing skills:
Put the regulator back in the mouth independently.
Equalize ears independently.
Understand and respond independently to simple instructions pertaining to safety such as: stop, ascend, etc.

If after conducting this test, the instructors are still unsure, a secondary test is to have the student move into shallow water and try to stabilize and equalize the ears independently. If the student can perform all of these skills, the student is considered as having a moderate disability. Otherwise, they are considered as having a major disability.

All instructors must possess RIFA for divers, which is the equivalent of EFR in PADI. The first instructor level in Handisub is called EH1. EH1 instructors teach those with moderate disabilities as it pertains to diving. In order to become an EH1 instructor, one must first be certified as E1, then participate in a two day training course. During this course, they receive training relating to the different types of disabilities, participate in simulations of varying handicaps and conduct two dives: one while simulating having a particular disability and one dive with a handicap diver. Both dives are supervised by an MFEH1 instructor or higher.

To qualify as an EH2 instructor, one must first have a minimum instructor certification of E2 and EH1. The training for an EH2 instructor takes place over five days and consists of two parts. The theoretical part consists of three modules:
Module 1: Motor handicaps.
Module 2: Sensory handicaps.
Module 3: cognitive, mental, psychological, developmental and behavioral disorders.

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The practical portion of the training consists of four open water dives with a PESH diver with a major disability, supervised by an MFEH1 instructor. If at all possible, the dives should be with PESH divers of varying types of handicaps and can be conducted in water as deep as 40 meters. Upon being validated as EH2, instructors are qualified to teach those divers considered to possess a major disability as it pertains to diving.

MFEH1 instructors are responsible for training EH1 and EH2 instructors. To qualify to become an MFEH1 instructor, one must first be validated as an MF1 and EH2 instructor. One must then actively participate in training of EH1 or EH2 instructors and have written a disortation on diving with disabilities.

MFEH2 is the highest level for instructors under Handisub. To qualify for MFEH2, one must first be certified as MF2 and MFEH1. One must then participate in the training of MFEH1 instructors and have written a disortation on PESH.

That was undoubtedly a lot of information so let us break it down for you in simpler terms. The four levels of instructors for Handisub are: EH1, EH2, MFEH1 and MFEH2. EH1 instructors teach people with moderate disabilities, EH2 teach those with major disabilities, MFEH1 train EH1 and EH2 instructors and MFEH2 instructors train MFEH1 instructors. This was an overview of the system in France. If anyone has further questions or would like further clarification, please don't hesitate to send an e-mail to diving@visionfreeaccess.net and we will be happy to provide more details.

Andrew: VisionFree Diving was created to share the passion for scuba diving and to reaise awareness of the benefits it offers people with disabilities, especially those who are blind or visually-impaired. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it. The show notes, full transcript and additional information about each guest on the podcast can be found at diving.visionfreeaccess.net. Questions and feedback can be sent to diving@visionfreeaccess.net. Until next time, happy diving!