Making Scuba-diving accesible for the disabled

IAHD stands for the International Association for Handicapped Divers and is a non-profit organization with its headquarter in Middenmeer, the Netherlands. The organization was established in 1993. Since the start we have educated and certified thousands of divers and dive professionals worldwide.

 

Our mission is to make scuba diving accessible for disabled people. To fulfill this mission, we educate diving professionals to become IAHD instructors. Globally the IAHD has many active instructors and representatives, who teach disabled people how to dive. There are IAHD instructors worldwide, from the freezing waters of Finland to the warm waters of Bali.

 

Prior to the first courses, years of comprehensive research have been done to explore the possibilities of scuba diving with a disability and how to setup and compose such a program. As there were no regulations for scuba diving for and with disabled people, the IAHD has been established to create more structure in this. Although our organization is relatively small, the diving community is becoming more and more aware of our activities.

 

The organization consists of a board of voluntary members, both disabled and able bodied, whose aim is to realize the objectives of the IAHD. We do this in co-operation with friends of the organisation. The best way to get people enthusiastic about diving is to let them experience it. Trying scuba diving is the best way, but also to explore if it is possible at all. There are only a few handicaps that does not allow a disabled person to dive. The way a person is disabled and the way they choose to live with their disability, differs from person to person.

 

Scuba diving offers disabled people an extra dimension. No matter the reason for the disability a disabled person’s self-esteem will often be improved by diving. The challenge of diving is a tremendous stimulant for a person’s mental condition. It is fantastic to hear about the positive results a person can achieve, like improvement of motor functions, muscle tissue development and retention, co-ordination and respiration. Scuba diving also provides real freedom of movement for those who are, "tied to a wheelchair". For many, scuba diving has proven to be invaluable rehabilitation therapy and has clearly aided in the process of "mainstreaming" back into society.

 

 

In a life where not everything comes easy nor is common, completing a scuba dive course is a triumph. A frequently heard remark is, how someone no longer feels or experience their handicap while they are under water. That is fantastic and for this reason alone we would do it any day!