Change Is Constant – Will It Come to you?

Re-rublished with permission of IMSHOF/Author Ned Denison (original >>> here <<< - with the pictures!):

Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus said, “The only constant in life is change.”

When change happens in the open water swimming community, few veterans are surprised. Records are constantly being set. New swims are constantly being pioneered. Swims are being constantly achieved that are ever more cold, ever more rough, ever longer, ever more unthinkable, and ever more remote

However, when change does happen in the open water, I often find myself surprised that change did not happen sooner.

One example is the increasing number of disabled swimmers who are achieving an increasing number of swims around the world – from swimming in the ice to crossing channels.

Swimmers like Tina Deeken, Jonty Warneken, Team Bits Missing (with David Burke, Andrew Smith, Mary Clewlow, Kate Sunley shown below), and Olympian Natalie du Toit come immediately to mind.

But there are many, many other open water swimmers who simply enjoy heading to the shorelines and going for a dip, short or long.

I remember watching Olympic medalist Thomas Lurz and other volunteers helping disabled swimmers enjoy the waters off Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in the Praia Para Todos program offered by the Institute Novo Ser. Also, I watched with admiration the efforts of Bruckner Chase and his wife Michelle Evans-Chase who created the Ocean Swimming & Prone Paddleboarding program for Athletes with Spinal Cord Injuries in New Jersey. These volunteers make sure great differences in the lives of people who deal with different disabilities, but who love the open water.

The International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, under the leadership of its executive committee with Ned Denison, Beth Yudovin, Richard Broer, Madhu Nagaraja, and Nora Toledano Cadena, are ahead of the curve. They actively seek to identify and nominate paraswimming representatives from different demographics who have been overlooked in previous decades. A recent inductee was British disabled swimmer Ros Hardiman.

However, the IMSHOF has long recognized the achievements of disabled swimmers such Dr. Caroline Block, Robert Cossette, Dr. James Counsilman, Buck Dawson, Gertrude Ederle, Elizabeth Fry, Annette Kellerman, Susie Maroney, David Parcells, James Pittar, Taranath Narayan Shenoy, Ernst Vierkoetter, and Charles Zibleman who were inducted as Honor Swimmers.

These are all great people, stories, and achievements.

But George Carvalho recently raised an unexpected point in his home waters of San Francisco Bay.

The famed Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club of San Francisco was established in 1877 and has long supported and promoted open water swimming for many generations. However, the Club does not allow its members to use swim aids such as swim fins or wetsuits on its organized swims in San Francisco Bay. While this policy was (and remains) the position of many open water swimming events, clubs, and governing bodies around the world, it has an unintended result: disabled members who may need the use of swim aids are excluded from participating in the club’s swims.

Why are swim aids necessary for some paraswimmers? The reason can range from avoiding hypothermia which is an increased risk for amputees to being tethered to another swimmer for a deaf person or using modified fins for someone with one or more residual limbs. The aids are meant to enable them to participate in open water swims safely. Their purpose is not to enable them to gain an unfair advantage over their able-bodied competitors.

In contrast, the South End Rowing Club that was established in 1873 and shares the same facilities and waters in Aquatic Park does not have such a policy. As a result, their members are welcome to use swim aids on every club swim.

Carvalho’s online Change.org petition to encourage the Dolphin Club’s board of governors to change its current policy is explained in detail here.

However, Dolphin Club members argue that there is no issue and that the Dolphin Club already accommodates disabled swimmers and has done so for years. As Ben Chun states, “This petition falsely accuses the Dolphin Club of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. In fact, club policy adopted in 2003 and published in the club rulebook states that any member with a disability may use swim aids or prosthetic devices. This policy establishes a procedure by which reasonable accommodation is provided, as both the law and common decency require. The goal of inclusion is one that we all share, but a petition to solve a problem that doesn’t exist does nothing to further that goal.“

For more information, visit the petition Allow Disabled Swimmers at the Dolphin Club to Use Swim Aids and the Dolphin Club Swim Rules here.

As a historical footnote, I recall that swimmers like Keri-Anne Payne, Larisa Ilchenko, and other competitors complained to the Olympic officials who initially refused to allow Natalie du Toit to use her prosthetic leg to walk several hundreds of meters from the swimmers tent to the starting pontoon before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Marathon Swim. Hopping on one leg for such a great distance would have put du Toit at a distinct disadvantage – and her fellow competitors immediately saw the injustice of such a decision – that was ultimately overruled.

Rules and policies can be changed – for the better of the sport.