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Limitations stop underwater
Underwater, it’s not about what you can’t do, but about what becomes possible. Through trust and expertise, IAHD makes diving accessible to everyone.
Underwater, you find calm and build confidence in yourself, in your instructor, and in the environment around you. That’s why IAHD believes everyone deserves the same high-quality dive education, with certification, and diving experiences.
IAHD
IAHD - a unique organization
IAHD is the only diving organization in the world for people with disabilities that is ISO-certified for both its entry-level and instructor training programs. This positions us as a true pioneer, setting standards that others follow, but do not match.
IAHD’s mission is to promote, develop, and deliver scuba diving education for children and adults with physical and/or intellectual disabilities, as well as for instructors who want to train and support divers with disabilities and their assistants.
IAHD also strives to improve dive locations by encouraging accessible facilities and ensuring that dive sites are easy reachable for everyone.
ISO certified
The only ISO-certified training programs in the world for people with physical and intellectual disabilities.
QR code
All your certifications worldwide, accessible via your personal QR code.
Partner
A unique training program for guiding divers with disabilities underwater.
D-Learning
IAHD training programs use the ‘Digital Learning System’ (D-Learning), developed by IAHD, allowing you to study the theory 24/7 at your own pace, anytime and anywhere.
Specialties
Specialty training programs for people with disabilities.
Plastic
No plastic certification cards, only digital.
D-Member
Fully digital membership system
D-Purchase
Online store for course materials
The IAHD Wheel, our unique approach!
Anabella Mazzini
Anneke van der Werff
Above water I need assistance, but underwater I am ‘healthy’ and able to help others when needed. Diving with a disability means having ‘an hour of being healthy’ underwater for me.
Saad Bin Mohammed Bin Said AL-Saadi
Marloes
I feel free when I dive or sail, because for a while I’m no longer confined to my wheelchair. ‘What if something happens to you?’ friends sometimes ask with concern.
Harry Beekelaar
His wheelchair is now in the shed. Ankylosing spondylitis kept him confined to it for nearly fifteen years—until he earned his diving certification and started diving. Harry says: ‘The intense pain is gone, I hardly take any medication anymore, I sleep well again, and I’m light on my feet.’ Diving is now his passion, but also his therapy. ‘That’s right,’ he adds with a smile, ‘because when I don’t dive, the symptoms return.
Nic. van de Wetering
Sayyid Nasr Bin Badr Bin Hamad Al Busaidi
When I was 22 I used to go everywhere around the country. At that age, I went with an ex-boyfriend to the North. During the trip we wanted to make ski in a narrow route with nothing more than mountains. He lose control of the car and it started falling in the Mountain like 600 feet. After three tumbles I broke my fifth and sixth cervical vertebs. After that I came by sanitary plane to the capital. Two months in a coma, one year of rehab and I started to restore myself again.
De ziekte van Becherew wordt in de volksmond Ontstekingsreuma genoemd. Het is een chronische ontsteking aan gewrichten, spieren en bindweefsel, die het kraakbeen aantast en tot extreme pijn leidt. Harry Beekelaar ontwikkelde de ziekte toen hij 28 jaar was. "In het begin viel het mee," vertelt hij over het ziekteverloop. "Maar naarmate de tijd verstreek namen de klachten toe. Op het laatst kon ik bijna niks meer, zelfs niet slapen. Ik heb een half jaar zittend geslapen vanwege de pijn in mijn rug, heupen en benen."
De maatschappelijke gevolgen waren enorm. Harry deed de juwelierszaak, die hij van zijn vader had overgenomen, van de hand en ging thuis werken als horlogemaker. Winkelen, spelen met de kinderen, auto rijden, vakantie, sport... hij kon niets meer en de pijn in zijn ledematen nam hand over hand toe.
De grootste uitvallen heb ik in het onderlijf en met name de benen.
Zwemmen is het laatste wat ik zelfstandig heb kunnen doen totdat het een te zware inspanning voor mijn benen was.
Ben nu volledig afhankelijk van mijn rolstoel en de andere hulpmiddelen.
Op vakantie in Turkije, Bodrum, hotel Sundance, kwam ik in contact met de IAHD.
De duiksport was mij volledig onbekend,maar ik kreeg de uitnodiging om onder deskundige begeleiding het duiken eens te proberen.
I really would like to commend the efforts of the International Association for the Handicapped Divers (IAHD) in Oman and everyone involved in bringing about happiness and joy in the lives of the disabled. It’s not an easy task and that’s why the Ministry appreciate the successful efforts by the IAHD in introducing the disabled into a total new and unexplored world, which is going to give them immense relief, joy and open up a whole new experience towards a hopeful future.
While I commend the efforts of the IAHD, I would also exhort the public at large to promote and support such selfless initiatives. If all of us unite for the betterment of the disabled in Oman, we will see greater changes in them and will definitely help improve their well-being.
