HSA Non-Members

Either from accident or disease about 15% of the population is statistically classified as "handicapped". In the United States alone this percentage translates into MILLIONS of people, many of whom are fully capable of becoming scuba divers.

Our open water training programs for people with disabilities are taught with a high margin of safety because we use teaching techniques developed with over 20 years of continuous research and feedback. Handicapped students are trained and certified according to HSA Physical Performance Standards and a multilevel Certification system so exacting and sensitive it enables us to train people with a wide range of disabilities, including paraplegia, quadriplegia, the blind and those with high-functioning brain injuries or mild retardation. We base our students diving proficiency on their ability to assist another diver in the water.

For instance, if you're a Level A diver, you're certified to dive with one other person; a Level B diver must dive with two other able-bodied divers and a Level C diver not only requires two dive buddies, but one must be trained in diver rescue. The third member of the buddy team is not there to further assist the B or C Level diver; they are there to ensure the safety of the A Level or above diver that cannot be assisted by the B or C Level diver.

HSA Level B or C divers are certified as recreational scuba dives and do not have any sport diving restrictions.

Also unique to our training system is Marine Life Identification. Our Open Water Scuba Diver course requires that one marine life form be described and identified on each of the students’ five certifying scuba dives.

HSA Instructors teach this course. If you are interested in becoming an HSA Open Water Diver, contact an HSA Instructor in your area. click here

Advanced Scuba Diver Certification

After meeting the performance requirements for ‘Open Water Scuba Diver’, some of our A, B, and C divers go on to obtain an "Advanced" level of certification. That is HSA Level A, B & C certified divers can earn an HSA Advanced certification.

Upon completion of the HSA Advance Course the diver will have developed the skills necessary for planning and executing scuba dives typical of recreational diving. They will also develop a further awareness and appreciation for the Marine Environment, its inhabitants and the delicate balance of the Ecosystem that supports them.

HSA Instructors teach this course. If you are interested in becoming an HSA Advanced Scuba Diver, contact an HSA Instructor in your area. click here

Many of us know someone, a friend or family member, we'd like to involve in scuba diving. Or, we'd welcome the challenge of learning about disabilities, accessibility issues and how to dive with people who have disabilities. The HSA "Dive Buddy Program" offers able-bodied divers this opportunity to expand their underwater world to include sharing it with a handicapped partner. An HSA certified Dive Buddy receives nearly as much information and skill training as an instructor , except the training focuses on recreation, not instruction.

HSA Instructors teach this course. If you are interested in becoming an HSA Dive Buddy, contact an HSA Instructor in your area. click here

Since the HSA Instructor Training Course was first introduced in 1986 we have trained and certified a network of over 2000 instructors in over 45 countries around the world.

The course provide 3 full days of intensive, insightful theory and application for those instructors eager to accept the challenge of sharpening their teaching skills. Each instructor acquires medical information through 10 hours of lectures on disabilities - what they are and how they relate to diving - followed by a series of confined and open water exercises, designed to simulate disabilities. By "acting out" these handicaps, instructors actually experience what it's like to BE a mobility or sight-impaired diver, a sensitizing , often surprising revelation even for instructors who have been teaching diving for many years. Our roster of HSA instructors includes experts in Physical Rehabilitation counseling, Medical Doctors and other health care professionals able to directly assess the profound effect of handicapped diving.

Become an HSA Instructor Trainer, the HSA's highest level of certification. This course is available for our experienced HSA Instructors who are in good standing. Prerequisites include training and certifying Open Water Divers with disabilities, Advanced Divers with disabilities and HSA Dive Buddies using the appropriate HSA training courses and materials.

This is a 6 day course that is taught in two phases. Phase One involves 3 days of in depth lectures covering the Instructor Training Course (ITC) Lectures and Water work. The Course Director (CD) Candidates learn how to use the ITC lectures to develop 'empathy' for people with various disabilities, how to conduct confined and open water Instructor skill evaluations, and more.

Phase two, the Course Director candidate will organize and teach an HSA Instructor Training Course under direct supervision. This includes arranging the lecture, confined water and open water facilities, as well as promoting to and recruiting the Instructor candidates for the course. HSA International will also help promote the ITC, and will continue to promote the Course Director's ITCs after they have been certified.

Open Water Scuba Diver Certification