Enabling bodies in water
The namesake of Lloyd Bailey Scuba and Water Sports Store in Gainesville has been teaching people with and without disabilities to scuba dive since 1981.
This includes paraplegics, quadriplegics and the blind. Along with scuba diving, he also teaches disabled people to cave dive.
“I just want to teach,” Bailey says. “Any paraplegic should learn how to dive. When you put them in the water, they are just as free as someone without a handicap. Once they get in the water, there’s no gravity. A lot of times, they can’t believe the freedom they have in the water.”
Bailey says he will teach anyone with a disability to dive, as long as they don’t have a serious problem with their ears or have airway and lung problems. His only two requirements are having a good attitude and a strong desire to learn.
For Bailey, scuba diving is a sport that allows people with disabilities to get out of their wheelchairs and into the marvels of the underwater realm where obstacles they encounter on land no longer exist. It allows people who are otherwise disabled to be enabled.