Non-profit teaches scuba to people with disabilities

BOULDER — Mark Jellison likes to have a good time, and he likes to help people in the process. This approach to life, along with a passion for scuba diving, is what prompted him to start Accessible Waves, a non-profit organization that teaches scuba to people with disabilities.
“I enjoy going to cool places with a bunch of people who are fun to be with,´ said Jellison, president of the non-profit group. “And I really like being able to provide therapeutic recreation for people who have physical and developmental disabilities.”
Jellison has done volunteer work for the Out and About program through the Developmental Disabilities Center in Boulder and also has volunteered for the Boulder Parks and Recreation Department’s EXPAND program, through which he had done volunteer work for the Special Olympics.
“Once I started volunteering, I discovered that I really enjoyed working with (disabled) folks and got a lot out of it. I was working at a scuba diving shop at the time and started thinking that I wanted to start an organization that would bring my interests together.”
Jellison became a Handicapped Scuba Association certified instructor in 1996 and has been teaching scuba diving to people with disabilities since then. Accessible Waves works with people who have a range of disabilities, including multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy, and also has an instructor who is an amputee.
“The classes are organized around people with disabilities. But if a parent, or partner, or close friend also wants to get certified, then we include them,” he said. “We don’t discourage able-bodied people from taking the classes, but our focus is primarily on the disabled because they usually think they can’t do it. Right now it’s just evenings and weekends, but we hope it grows into something.”
Cain Travel donates classroom space to Accessible Waves and Scuba Joe Dive Shop in Boulder provides classroom space and equipment. The Good Samaritan Center of Boulder rents pool space to the group, allowing them use of its pleasantly heated (90 degrees) facility near Folsom and 28th streets. Accessible Waves has a four-member board and a volunteer group that ranges from six to eight people.
“We’re working on funding. We haven’t gotten any grants yet, but we have gotten some individual contributions. Everything is volunteer at this point, including the administration and the board.”
Elizabeth Burr, vice president of Accessible Waves who has cerebral palsy, says she enjoys having the opportunity to exercise in the water and travel to distant places.
“I give the people on the board the perspective of a disabled person who is learning to dive,” she says. “I snorkel right now because it’s hard for me to balance the tanks. But I plan on eventually learning how to scuba dive and look forward to going someplace warm to do it.”
She says it takes an average of five lessons in the pool, plus two or three open-water sessions, before a person is ready for certification. She explains that Jellison likes to do open-water instruction in places where the water is clear, calm and warm because it make it easier and safer for students to learn.
“We’ve been to Belize and Hawaii,” Jellison says. “We went to the big Island of Hawaii last year and dived off of the Kona coast. We’re planning a trip to the Caribbean in April or May but haven’t decided exactly where we are going yet. We need a place that can provide hotels with good wheelchair access. The trips are designed to be easy learning experiences.”
Students must pay for the lessons and the trips, which are usually part of a package. The trips have included up to 14 people in the past.
“I went snorkeling in Hawaii from a live-aboard boat,´ said Burr. “I saw lots of very cool fish and really enjoyed the trip. The whole thing was definitely a worthwhile experience.”