Gene's Testimonial
 Gene in his scuba gear walking on the ocean floor. Gene is both a Scuba Diver and a Mountain Climber (click link)
I'm Gene Rodgers. I'm a bit of an explorer; I never get tired of trying or seeing new things. I became a C-5 quadriplegic in 1972 as a result of a fall from a cliff. C-5 means I broke my neck, I'm paralyzed in all 4 limbs, though I can move my arms a little but not my fingers.
A few years after I became disable I tried to learn scuba diving but was told I could never be certified because I could not clear a snorkel. Friends took me snorkeling in the Florida Keys, but I never forgot about scuba. Since I couldn't dive, I did the other normal things quads do: sky diving, skiing, para-sailing, cliff climbing, trekking in the Himalayas, etc. Then I heard about this program at St. David's Rehabilitation Center in Austin. I heard they taught people with disabilities how to dive and then take them on dive trips. Well, I called them up and spoke to a guy named Tim Skelly. What a nut!..he told me to come down to St. David's and he would teach me to dive. He said this without knowing anything about my disability. Later, I learned Tim's philosophy is, "We can teach anyone with a disability to dive unless they convince us otherwise." That was in 1996. I got certified that year and have been diving ever since. Thanks Tim.
 Gene checking out some coral formations. I started diving using a regular wet suit. Since then I got this custom made wet suit. It has zippers on the arms and legs, making it much easier to get on and off. The legs are 5mm (that just means I stay warmer longer). Email me grodgers@austin.rr.com, and I'll tell you where to get one. At first I used a regular mask, later I got prescription lenses for my mask. Figuring buoyancy was difficult. We eventually figured out I needed about 22 pounds of weight with a 3 pound ankle weight. The weight belt kept slipping down my slender waist so Chad took another weight belt and looped it over my shoulder to hold up the weights from the back.
We needed a way to communicate underwater but how? I couldn't use hand signals or even point. After some trial and error we came up with a great solution. I had one of my dive buddies, Mindy, write the words: Fish, Coral, Wreck, Closer, ID, SPG, Compass, Cold, and Safety stop on a slate. While diving, if I wanted to get Mindy's attention, I would grunt. She would pull the slate around where we could both see it. I would look up and to the left if I wanted the top left word on the slate, down and left if I wanted the bottom left word, etc. Then she would point at a word. If it wasn'tšt the word I wanted I shook my head no. Mindy was incredibly intuitive and rarely had to point to more than one word. For example; if we were in area particularly rich in coral, I would grunt once. Mindy pointed to the word "coral" to verify that is what I wanted to see. If I shook my head yes and grunted again Mindy pointed to the word "closer" to verify I wanted to get a very close view of the coral while at the same time, maintaining a safe distance to avoid damaging these delicate creatures. If I appeared to find a particular coral fascinating I would grunt again. Mindy pointed to "ID" to verify I wanted her to identify the coral for me. I shook my head yes and she turned the slate over to write down the name of the coral. At the end of the day I had a slate full of names which I copied into my log book.
 Chad assisting Gene
through Spooky Channel
Roatan Honduras. The first couple of dives, my dive buddies Mindy and Patsy would ask me if I was cold. I always lied and shook my head no. Since then I got a warmer wet suit. Now, the only time I shake my head no is when they tell me it's time to surface.
Body copy here
Gene Rodgers
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