Paralympian Knows No Limits

Stephen Campbell is a 27 Northern Irish Paralympic swimmer. He lost his sight at the age of 16 and now is totally blind. Campbell was a student at the University of Ulster at Magee in Co Londonderry, degree in Multimedia Computing and Design, he worked in September 2010 with Microsoft in Dublin as part of the Institute of Sport’s Career Athlete Development Programme.

Stephen has a great passion for the sport, particularly in swimming since his youth. He was a member of Irish Blind Sports (IBS), the officially recognized national governing body (NGB) with responsibility for organizing sporting activities for blind and visually impaired people in Ireland. He began competing in high performance swimming at the age of 17, breaking two swimming records when he competed in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics in the 100m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle and the 100m Butterfly races.

After an injury Stephen has stopped competing, but he can still enjoy his time in the water in his retirement from competitive swimming. Following a recent trip to Sicily organized by Seable, where he did his Open Water Scuba certification under the auspices of the Handicapped Scuba Association (HSA), he quickly developed a passion for the underwater realm. Stephen is now progressing with his PSAI training with his next target, the Advanced Diver Certification (5 completed specialties), and the hope that one day to become the world’s deepest blind Scuba diver, and his new ambition is to continue with this activities and break a record in the future.

Here is a cool video about this Paralympian’s adventures in the water with Seable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UtCUzzfy6A

-Submitted by Damiano La Rocca

“I was inspired to create Seable by my father’s charity, LIFE (Life Improvement for Everyone), and the lack of financial support it was receiving. LIFE is a charity that runs a scuba diving program for people with disabilities, which my father started when a good friend of his became paraplegic. It started as a rehabilitation scheme and grew, but has been unable to receive funding. I was motivated to create Seable and turn it into a thriving business and use my father’s services as an outlet for one of the vacation activities. Since its inception two years ago, it has seen growth through much planning and preparation.”