00:00So WASL means Reach Out, Reconnect, if you translate it from Arabic.
00:12We try to reach out and reconnect to the community and to different individuals to get them into
00:19diving.
00:20Disabled Diving Program is particularly concentrated on teaching disabled diving how to dive and
00:25certifying instructors.
00:27We have a few individuals that are undergoing training but we try to keep it a one-on-one
00:32session rather than a bigger class because it obviously brings more interaction, gives
00:38also more control during the session and we can adopt that way all the skills to every
00:44student and process at the pace that the student feel comfortable with so they can learn everything
00:51the way they feel comfortable.
00:52I've got an eye condition called retina dystrophy, the back of the eye is retina damaged.
00:57This session in particular, honestly, I didn't even know what to expect, I didn't even know
01:00what kind of things to wear, it was very overwhelming in every sense of the word.
01:04Second session, I kind of was looking forward to do it again, third session, I was still
01:09struggling with my breathing, struggling with the whole equipment, I mean, until probably
01:13the fourth or fifth and then what I felt quite comfortable.
01:16Knowing that the equipment are safe and knowing that there's a really very good instructor
01:20on board with me, very assuring, it really reignited my passion for sports.
01:24I used to be a Paralympic athlete but also it made me very confident with water sports.
01:29This one is a totally different thing, it's more of a mind control and it just reminds
01:33me again, it's just another challenge, it's out of the way.
01:36I'm doing it in the Jumeirah Beach Hotel now and hopefully we'll go to the open sea very soon.
01:40In the beginning, Jaya had a really big fear of water and it took us a few sessions just
01:45to get rid of the fear of water and just to build up the trust, student to instructor
01:51trust, which is also quite important in any diving courses.
01:56We were all amazed how inspired he got, he wanted to start like swimming lessons to continue
02:02his courses with us, he wants to get to the next level, he's really excited about his
02:08open water dives, he really loves scuba diving.
02:11It doesn't limit him, communicate, we communicate all the time, it's just slightly different
02:17from the other students because we just have to keep a tactile contact all the time with Jaya.
02:23He's observing double amount of information because he's learning two hand signals instead
02:29of learning one hand signal.
02:31We do diving course, we're going to just learn hand signal okay, let's say, and with Jaya
02:36we need to learn hand signal where I will give him a signal okay by giving, let's say,
02:42one tag or one squeeze on his wrist and then he needs to also learn hand signal where he
02:47replies okay to me by using a normal hand signal okay, so for every hand signal it will
02:53be always two hand signals for him to learn.
02:55The disabled diving program is very beneficial, it has many advantages because people get
03:00to communicate, it's social and it's physical, they get to communicate a lot with different
03:07people.
03:08When they get in the water in a near weightless state, many obstacles that they might have
03:14on land due to their disability will just disappear, they can move in a 3D dimension
03:20and they can do almost anything on the water because it's just easy, it's simple and it's a lot of fun.
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