Disabled friends from Lancashire on a mission to challenge stereotypes with scuba diving world record

Two disabled friends from Lancashire are on a mission to break down barriers in scuba diving and set a world record.

Paraplegic Shaun Gash and Mohammed Salim Patel, who is blind are building up to a dive off the North West coast in the summer.

BBC journalist Salim, 29, has a degenerative eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa.

He was diagnosed at 10 years old and told he would go blind one day.

He said he struggled to come to terms with it, but that through his religion and parents' support he was able to overcome his fears.

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Join our new WhatsApp Community to get the latest news and top stories from across Lancashire directly to your phone. Sign up for our free newsletters now He told the BBC that negativity from others is what motivates him.

He said: "Every time I mention it to someone they say, 'well what are you going to get out of it because you can't see?'

"But for me it's always a question of 'well why not?'"

Nearly 33 years ago, Shaun, 53, was a passenger in a car involved in a crash, after it went around a corner too quickly and flipped over.

He broke his back, wrist, shoulder and punctured both of his lungs, and was given two days to live.

The father-of-three said he struggled to see a future for himself after the accident, but after meeting his wife Dawn at spinal injury rehabilitation centre, they started a family and now take on fundraising challenges together. The pair are determined to break down stigmas as, every company they approached with the idea told them it was impossible.

Shaun said: "As soon as you mention disabilities, as soon as you mention paralysis there was a lot of barriers put up."

Salim added: "We're both the type of people that will not accept no as an answer."

The pair want to set a new world record for the first time a blind person and a paraplegic amputee have dived together.

When Curly, an Egyptian diving instructor at Morecambe Area Divers heard their plan, he agreed to train the pair to complete their challenge.

Shaun said: "We want to spread the word that diving is for every body, for every ability.

"Because we are all equal underwater."