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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Diveheart: Stories from the Heart – The power of water and zero gravity

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I’ll never forget when I was inspired to start the nonprofit Diveheart to help children, veterans and others with disabilities through adaptive scuba and scuba therapy.

I was swimming in an outdoor pool on a sunny day. I like to swim with a scuba mask on because since I was a kid, I’ve always thought it was cool to see things underwater.

I’ll never forget noticing, as if for the first time, the wavy beams of light from the sun almost dancing on the bottom of the pool floor. I became curious and stood up looking at everything above water that was touched by the rays of the sun. The trees, grass, pool deck and other objects certainly were illuminated by the light of the sun, but not in the same way as on the bottom of the pool.

I put my head in the water again and studied the dancing beams of light on the bottom of the pool. I lifted my head again to observe the character of the light above water. I did this several times and then thought to myself that the sun needed the water to dance. Together the sunlight and the water became something magical.

It was then I decided to use that experience as a reference and example of how Diveheart would use the water to reflect light into dark places. I was very excited and began to remember my experiences of guiding and teaching blind skiers when I was with WGN Radio in the mid 1980s.

I saw downhill skiing positively change the lives of visually impaired and blind children and adults. I envisioned changing lives for people of all abilities using my new references underwater in zero gravity.

I began teaching children, veterans and others with a variety of physical and cognitive disabilities in 1997 when I became a scuba instructor. I noticed right away that it would take me about two days to get a blind skier acclimated to the equipment, learn to initiate turns and then follow commands down the hill. However, I could take someone who had never been in the water, out of their wheelchair and in 30 minutes I would have them standing in the deep end of the pool.

It was a game changer for them and for me. There are no chance meetings. That day, I met my destiny.

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Jim Elliott
Jim Elliotthttp://www.diveheart.org
Jim Elliott left a successful career in the media business with the Tribune company to start the Downers Grove-based nonprofit Diveheart in 2001 to help individuals with disabilities through adaptive scuba and scuba therapy. For more info, visit www.diveheart.org.
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