PADI is excited to hear that Kids Scuba, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, have just certified two disabled divers from the University of Malaya Medical Center (UMMC) in Kuala Lumpur. The Five Star Dive Centre has been successfully conducting scuba diving courses with kids and teens since 2004, and have now begun to share their PADI scuba training with orphaned youth and disabled divers.
Syed Abd Rahman, Director of Kids Scuba, says it all started after seeing an organisation from the US extending scuba opportunities to disabled divers. Inspired by this story, Syed met with Associate Professor Dr. Lydia Binti Abdul Latif from the Spinal Corrective Rehabilitation Unit at UMMC in early 2015. Soon after, the doctors and professors visited the Kids Scuba’s training establishment and assessed the pool set up at the Maybank Training Academy Bangi, 30 minutes out of Kuala Lumpur.
The selected candidates, Ms. Jan Chia and Mr. Tee Wei Ming, were victims of major road accidents resulting in spinal fractures. They were both left paralysed and had to undergo many years of corrective surgery to regain some movement in their legs. Whilst undergoing physiotherapy at UMMC, Jan and Tee were told about the potentials of experiencing scuba diving; they excitedly took up the challenge.
Jan and Tee took to the water like it was second nature, diving skillfully in confined and open water. They graduated as certified PADI Open Water Divers earlier this month. PADI would like to congratulate Tee, Jan and Kids Scuba on their achievement and we look forward to hearing about their next adventures!
