Diving opens up new world for disabled

Date Published: 07-May-2009

SCUBA Diving isn’t something you’d immediately think of as an activity open to the disabled – at least that is what I thought until recently.

My name is Gary Allen, and I was born with Spina Bifida which means I get around on four wheels rather than the more conventional method of two legs so when I heard that the Galway Dive Club were looking for disabled people to try scuba diving I was a little surprised and intrigued.

Scuba (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving for the disabled was pioneered by a Scot, Fraser Bathgate who took up scuba diving after he was paralysed in a climbing accident.

Charlie Brehony, the chairman of Galway Dive Club (GDC), having a strong…