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RAID JOINS FORCES WITH
DEPTHERAPY TO CREATE NEW ADAPTIVE TEACHING PROGRAMMES
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ollowing a presentation at the GO Diving Show in Coventry, UK, at the end of February, scuba diving rehabilitation charity Deptherapy has announced that it is working on a series of exciting new programmes with diver training agency partner RAID. These new programmes are destined to transform scuba diving training for all abilities. Award-winning Deptherapy is the acknowledged world leader in Adaptive Teaching – training those with lifechanging mental and/or physical challenges through specially designed scuba diving programmes that enable divers to achieve standard agency certifications. Many of Deptherapy’s programme members have suffered limb loss and other significant physical injuries. 80 per cent of members are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or other chronic mental illness. Sadly, people with all kinds of disability are still actively discriminated against inside and outside the scuba diving industry. However, the work of Deptherapy has shown that even those with massive injuries can still meet all the standards required to become main agency qualified divers without the stigma of ‘disability’ being shown on their certification card. Successful Adaptive Teaching requires considerable additional effort from the instructional team, working very
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closely with the student, to think ‘out of the box’ so that the individual can achieve the required standard. Until now, the majority of Deptherapy programme members have been UK Armed Forces veterans, but the charity has long been a champion of the cause to make scuba diving accessible to all those with disabilities. Moving forwards with RAID, Deptherapy and its training arm Deptherapy Education are now working towards extending their programme to push the boundaries of Adaptive Teaching for a wider cohort, as well as offering an alternative for those with disabilities or medical conditions that mean standard certifications are unachievable. Richard Cullen, Chair of Deptherapy explains: “The Deptherapy Team is realistic, and we know from experience that some divers will not be able to achieve the standard certifications, even with Adaptive Teaching, due to the nature of their illness or injury. For instance, a quad amputee or a quadriplegic cannot complete all the skills required but they
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