IAHD-Americas Makes Adaptive Scuba Viable for Dive Centers & Resorts

Plenty of opportunities for specialized training for dive professionals.

The International Association for Handicapped Divers (IAHD-Americas) is offering dive centers, independent instructors and resort operators the training, support and structure they need to make adaptive scuba a viable and on-going part of their business rather than a sporadic charitable cause. IAHD-Americas leverages the strength and experience of its parent organization, IAHD International, which has been serving handicapped divers, companions, instructors, and affiliates successfully since 1991. Now, IAHD-Americas is bringing their technical and business acumen to our region full force.

While there are other agencies that promote adaptive scuba programs, one important distinction in the IAHD-Americas adaptive scuba business model is the fact that the handicapped divers are trained for free. This raises the profile and the addressable market for IAHD dive centers, operators, resorts, and instructors. The approach works because the IAHD diver’s interests spread throughout their support circle to dive partners and enthusiasts who’ll pursue scuba as an extension of the handicapped person. And this extensive group represents an untapped market segment that is virtually unreachable to dive centers that fail to embrace and promote diving to the special needs community.

IAHD partners receive mentoring and instruction in applying their diving and business skills to the huge adaptive sports arena. More than 21 million Americans suffer from physical disabilities today, that number easily doubles when combined with mental and emotional challenges throughout the Americas territory. By expertly expanding their traditional approaches to the disabled sports environment, IAHD partners overcome competitive and branding limitations while improving the opportunities for these incredibly deserving people.

Another important factor to consider is that IAHD-Americas actively promotes its education and training programs, as well as the growing family of IAHD-certified dive centers, instructors, resorts and partners both nationally through an active trade show schedule, media exposure and advertising, an aggressively-branded internet presence and individually by referring leads and inquiries to local IAHD affiliates. And perhaps most importantly, IAHD-Americas does not train divers; rather, we are here to provide the tools and training for instructors, dive centers and resorts, who will provide their clients with the actual training and dive experiences, and ultimately reap the rewards of their efforts.

This is a truly win-win situation for the public and the dive industry which has attracted premier IAHD-Americas’ Supporting Partners: Learning Through Travel, Deep Blue Adventures and ScubaGearPlus, with new sponsors enrolling every month.

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