NEWS & MOVIES ARCHIVE

IAHD Adriatic in Egypt

HURGADA – In Slovenia Slovenian Diving Federation (SLOF00) was until now the only association having the certificate to train divers following the recommendations of CMAS. Now the International Societies Association IAHD Adriatic (SLOF01), which in wider Adriatic region trains divers with and without disabilities has also obtained it. Physically disabled have benefited from it the most as Slovenian Diving Federation does not carry out programmes in which physically disabled divers could participate.
A group of six members of IAHD Adriatic from Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was in Egypt from the 20th till the 26th May 2008, has pleasantly surprised representatives of 132 diving associations from all over the world.
The projection of a short twelve minutes film which was shot at the nearest coral ridge only two days before the assembly session was received with great admiration. Piere Dernier, the general secretary of CMAS, pointed out that up until now the assembly was never attended by representatives of physically disabled divers and for that fact the approbation was even bigger. Three physically disabled divers, two of which have spinal cord injuries and one high amputee, have with the film shown to the participants that under the water surface they are equal to recreational divers.
»Beside the diving equipment, which we needed for diving, we only brought along the international diving cards« said the veteran amongst them, Aleš Povše Yoda. With the projection of the film they have also introduced an expert article titled »Venous gas bubble formation and decompression risk after scuba diving in persons with chronic spinal cord injury and able-bodied controls«, which was published in Spinal Cord magazine just a few days before going to Egypt. The article was prepared by the Department of Physiology, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia under the leadership of Željko Dujić, PhD, together with the associates from Centre for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology, Duke University Medical Centre, Durham, NC, USA and in cooperation with other distinguished institutions. The article resulted from field work done in June 2007, which was organized with cooperation of Paraplegic Association of Slovenia on Krk Island. The article gives answers to numerous questions which were posed in six years work with physically disabled divers and is currently the only one of its kind. The article was of special interest particularly to the president of Technical Committee and member of managing board Kevin O´Shaughnessy, who in CMAS takes care of diving standards.
A successful introduction in formal part of the meeting also brought various offers of cooperation in the field of diving with physically disabled divers. The first one was offered by Rainer (Rajko) Gotwald, who is a Slovenian by nationality and was representative of Thai delegation, which will be hosting the next general assembly in 2009. Representative of Thai minister of tourism offered help with training invalid divers, and the president of Chinese federation Zhang Qing also saw a possibility of cooperation, but he stressed that their experience in the field of recreational diving is limited.
The last day of the meeting was more or less informal, but very valuable as a lot of useful information was exchanged and many new acquaintances were made, which can create better grounds for work benefiting all recreational divers, but especially the divers with the spinal cord injuries.
»As members of the oldest and the most prestigious world diving organization, which was established by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and people having the same views and which to its members assures minimal recommendations and diving standards, we are thrilled to finally also accept invalid divers in our big family«, said Karl Heinz Kerll, PhD, one of the founders of CMAS.
IAHD Adriatic came back home with the right, which not many people yet grasp and that is the right for recreational diving which invalids did not have before IAHD Adriatic became a member of CMAS. Diving for physically disabled was all the time supported by Paraplegic Association of Slovenia and as its new president Dane Kastelic said it will be in the future as well, »as it is one of the forms of recreation, which enables that at least under the water the differences between us disappear«.

26. 05. 2008