Atlantis, The Plam hosts diving training for special needs people

Dive Atlantis, the newest addition to Atlantis, The Palm’s resort attractions, hosted a two-day diving training program for people with special needs, as part of its efforts to make diving more accessible and to support social inclusion and social empowerment of people with disabilities.
The training, organized in collaboration with Disabled Divers International (DDI), a non-profit organization, was designed to promote, develop and conduct scuba diving training programs for the disabled in professional and non-professional categories.
In addition to the support of the Dive Atlantis team, the sessions were supervised by Mark Slingo, director of training and marketing in DDI, a scuba diving instructor who is currently in a wheelchair due to an accident.
Mark conducted the training at Dive Atlantis on March 11 and 12, with six professional diving instructors with an aim for them to become DDI certified while learning adaptive techniques required to teach scuba diving to disabled students.
On the first day of training, Slingo covered the theory portion followed by a practical test the following morning. The course was aimed at mobilizing individuals with disabilities to enjoy the treasures of the ocean.
The initiative comes as part of Atlantis’ CSR activities, and to increase its entertainment offering to families across the world, whatever their needs or requirements.
“Diving can be an enriching experience, potentially helping to improve quality of life,” says Mike Ceci, manager, Dive Atlantis, Atlantis, The Palm.
“Dive Atlantis is going the extra mile in providing these educational and entertainment activities to all visitors. Diving is a sport where you experience the feeling of absolute weightlessness, and so diving is usually a comfortable sport for those with challenges in regards to movement.
Since its introduction in 2010, DDI has conducted professional and non-professional programs around the world.