Adele's Experiences (Above-knee Amputee)
"I signed on with a local scuba diving club which had experience teaching disabled people, although not above-knee amputees specifically. Therefore, we had to work some things out as we went along.
"I wore my artificial leg around the pool to get my gear set up but did not wear it in the water. When I am in the water I only have the use of one leg, so I needed to hold on to the side of the pool for support when standing while the instructor explained various parts of the lesson. Instead of having the group stand in the middle of the pool during the lesson as was usual, we simply moved nearer to the edge of the pool so I could hold on for balance. A couple of times I had to remind the instructor but everyone was good-natured about making these adjustments.
"Because I only had one leg, we discovered that my weight was not even - I was heavier on the side without my amputation of course. I found I could not kneel on the bottom of the pool and was very unstable and off-balance. We found two pounds of extra weight added to my scuba vest on the side of my amputation to be quite effective. I also had some difficulty keeping my lower body down in the water, so several of the experienced female divers who had experienced similar difficulties (so it wasn't just an amputee thing) suggested wearing ankle weights to help.
"We also looked at adapting the "kick" which scuba divers do to propel themselves forward. As I only wear one fin I cannot do the standard flipper kicks, so we decided to try the dolphin kick which requires the diver to use their whole body - this seemed to work quite well.
"One of the entry skills taught was a stride entry. I was unable to do the stride entry and used a seated entry from the side of the pool instead.
"I generally found the class quite enjoyable and the instructor open to adapting the skills to suit my needs."