by Tracy Leverett, Marsa Alam
“Taki, from Marsa Alam, and I, Saad from Sharm El Sheikh and Paul and Tiger from El Gouna gathered in El Gouna for our training course and spent an enjoyable three days with the IDDA staff.
We spent the first day in the classroom looking at the theory and learning that the only prerequisite to diving was a doctor’s clearance, after that the only assessment is how to get our guests diving! We looked at how to cater for people with disabilities and medical considerations from diabetics to the visually impaired to quadriplegics.
In the pool we learnt how to assess people, get them comfortably in the water, how to manage and maintain contact with the divers and generally adapting our existing teaching skills to cater for individual needs.
Our two teaching assistants were both in wheelchairs; one an amputee and the other paralysed from the waist down, so we learnt a broad range of realistic and practical techniques. We used Abu Tigue Marina to learn how to manoeuvre and 
navigate all types of obstacles – bridges, steps, kerbs, pavements and even the beach, all of which opened our eyes as to how much needs to be thought through outside of the diving itself.
navigate all types of obstacles – bridges, steps, kerbs, pavements and even the beach, all of which opened our eyes as to how much needs to be thought through outside of the diving itself.
Our last day we spent out on the dive boat for two dives; the first was a training exercise dealing with a diver’s first time in the water (try dives, open water dives), learning holds, control and ascent and descent techniques, which we had previously practiced in the pool. The second dive was buddying up with one of the teaching assistants as a qualified diver, and being their buddy both in and out of the water.
The practical applications were very enjoyable and at times intense; we had a lot of fun working as teams. Many obstacles were encountered during the three days but with the ID
DA professional staffs’ guidance and experience we solved them quickly. As IDDA instructors we are now able to audit our dive centres to make them more disabled-friendly and implement the changes needed to accomplish this. We can conduct 'Try Dives' for therapy and offer continuing education for certified divers to rescue through to dive masters with the IDDA programme.
Our thanks to our instructors who were fun and yet so very professional. We look forward to welcoming our first disabled divers and sharing our skills – and fun!”
