Pascal Zénatti: "I would like to change people's eyes on divers with disabilities"

17 years ago, with ASPTT Marseille. At the time I was rowing, not without difficulty of acceptance because of my physical handicap. And the head of the diving section offered me a baptism. The first attempt was difficult, I was afraid, but the instructor, knowing me, insisted, and the following week I did not stop. I passed my level 1 (not without difficulty) then my level 2 a short time ago… When I passed my level 2 my best moment was when the instructor told me "yes, no problem for me, you are under water equal to able-bodied, so I accept without any fear ”.

I remember a beautiful meeting, during a baptism with severely disabled children in “la Marronaise” (Editor's note: an adorable Marseille bay): one of the children, suddenly, had a fixed gaze. I am therefore placed in front of him, trying to understand: sign “ok”, immediate response “ok” from him, this on 4 occasions… obviously all was well for him! After a while he managed to show us that he was actually staring at a seahorse. I think that for the whole group, experienced as beginners, it was a big surprise, and a beautiful moment.

Human intolerance in the face of difference, in the broad sense, exasperates me. The mentality of certain divers, and especially of certain “pseudo decision-makers” in the face of diving for disabled people is deplorable. Words like “handi diving, we don't know so we don't do” put me beside myself. During a medical visit, the doctor (at the end) told me: "medically I am convinced that you are not risking anything, but being also a diving instructor, I cannot accept to take the risk" ...

The dives on the Dalton and the Chaouen and more generally in Planier, whether at 10, 30, or 50 meters ... The site is huge, there are two wrecks to visit, which always have great surprises in store: conger eel, grouper, lobster, but also sunfish or Saint-Pierre!

I have many. Diving in the Red Sea. But above all to dive freely without being looked down on, in short, to be like the others with the others ... And be sure that none of my pairs, in a group in autonomy, asks the question of knowing if I would be able to assist in the event of a problem. I passed my level 2 like the others, with the same constraints, I even imposed additional ones ...

There are many, all those who prefer to act rather than speak and say nothing. But I think especially of the instructor who opened the doors to diving for me, and whom I appreciate because he did it despite many criticisms made around him.

I don't have a trip planned, but I'm already looking forward to my next dive, surely in the bay of Marseille on my favorite wrecks.