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Scuba diving lessons for children with disabilities

Posted at 3:48 PM, Oct 19, 2014
and last updated 2014-10-19 15:48:43-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- For the fifth year in a row, Altek Sports and Scuba, West Michigan Adaptive Diving, and Mary Free Bed teamed up to offer under-water scuba diving lessons for children with disabilities.

One of the participants was Ethan Meyers. Ethan said that he had been looking forward to the event.

"I like to go underwater when I swim, so I've been thinking about how cool it would be to be able to stay under the water for a lot more time," said Ethan.

Mary Free Bed said that the opportunity gives children with disabilities a chance to get involved in physical activity.

"Just their sense of freedom. Getting into the water levels the playing field. They don't have a wheel chair anymore. They don't have crutches. They don't have a lot of the visual barriers that you see with people with physical disabilities on land," said Christy Vanhaver with Mary Free Bed's Wheel Chair and Adaptive Sports Department.

"We take them along and we got a certified diving instructor with them everywhere we go and we carry them through the water and we've got a treasure chest on the bottom to get a little bling," said Tim Marr with Altek Sports and Scuba and West Michigan Adaptive Diving.