Volunteering and young people who have a disability – benefits and advice
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The Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS) has created a collection of short films that focus on young people who have a disability and volunteering. This page includes three films that feature advice from people in organisations who work with young people, and their advice on creating an inclusive workplace.
Watch:
- Introduction – what are the benefits of having a young person with a disability volunteer?
- Messages – what messages do you have for organisations wishing to hire young volunteers with a disability?
- Advice – what are some of the ways organisations can support and be inclusive of young volunteers who have disability?
The films feature:
- Amanda May, the metro access officer at Knox City Council
- Naomi Chainey, the general manager of Grit Media
- Paul Papadatos, the coordinator at Northland Youth Centre
- Joy Little, the volunteer program coordinator at EACH
- Georgie Ferrari, the chief executive officer of the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria.
You can also watch Volunteering and young people who have a disability – experiences and benefits. These films feature four young people who have a disability talking about their experiences as volunteers.
Introduction
What are the benefits of having a young person with a disability volunteer?
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Messages
What messages do you have for organisations wishing to hire young volunteers with a disability?
If you are having trouble watching this film you can:
Advice
What are some of the ways organisations can support and be inclusive of young volunteers who have disability?
If you are having trouble watching this film you can:
Transcript: What are the benefits of having a young person with a disability volunteer?
What is your name and position?
Amanda May (metro access officer – Knox City Council): Well, my role here at Knox City Council is metro access and that's a role funded by the Department of Human Services and it's to support the inclusion of people with disabilities in the life of their local community.
Naomi Chainey (general manager – Grit Media): I'm Naomi. I am the general manager of Grit Media.
Paul Papadatos (coordinator – Northland Youth Centre): My name is Paul Papadatos. I work for the City of Darebin in the youth services department and my job is, I'm the coordinator of the Northland Youth Centre.
Joy Little (volunteer program coordinator – EACH): Joy Little, and I'm the volunteer program coordinator, is my official title. So, I manage the whole volunteer program.
Georgie Ferrari (chief executive officer [CEO] – Youth Affairs Council of Victoria): I'm Georgie Ferrari. I'm the CEO at the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria.
What are the benefits of having a young person with a disability volunteer?
Amanda May: Everyone brings a different set of skills and knowledge to a job, it doesn't matter if they have a disability or not. So, I think it's just about appreciating once again, diversity.
I always remember a lady, from an arts society, wanting to know how she could be more inclusive and someone asked why people with disabilities weren't members. And she said, 'Well, if you're not with people with disabilities you just don't give it a thought'. So, I think the more that we break… so, I think it's the attitudinal barriers we need to break down, because then you can see people's abilities, not their disabilities.
Naomi Chainey: I feel it's actually beneficial both in terms of the work that we do and also I think socially, for everybody just to experience – just to be able to have that interaction with people who have had such diverse experiences. I think that's very, very important in the work place.
Paul Papadatos: So, one of the benefits of Con helping out is – himself, his energy, and what he brings to the youth centre. He's always got a smile on his face and does the best in what he can do. And he's a resource in regards to, when I have students on placement or new people that are getting involved in the youth centre, and I have to show them about the drop-in program or how to set up or what to do.
As you can see, I got interrupted with my phone before, I know Con can do that and Con does that and he does it in a way where he's really happy and does it with a lot of energy. He's like the James Bond of the Northland Youth Centre. He's my eyes. And he does a really really good job and I'm really proud of him.
Joy Little: This organisation couldn't run without volunteers. It was started just as a volunteer organisation and yeah, there would be many programs that couldn't run if we don't have volunteers.
Georgie Ferrari: I always say, young people are the experts of their own lives, so young people with the disabilities are obviously the experts on their lives. But that doesn't mean they can only volunteer in disability roles or disability capacities.
You know, I'm constantly amazed at all young people who come in looking for volunteer work at YACVic, because they have got such a wide range of skills and abilities and are so keen and eager to contribute those skills. So, it's no different with young people with disabilities. They've got skills, they've got experience and they just need an opportunity and the right slot to fit into to exercise those skills.
If they are working in an area that they can actually apply some of their own life experience in terms of their disability into their work, well and good. But if they've got completely different skills and they say, 'Well, I actually want to do web design stuff or I want to do communications work or whatever – project work' then well and good as well and, you know, we want to fit them in where we can.
We've had a young person who's been a volunteer with YACVic for quite some time and she originally came through being a volunteer involved with our disability project. But now, she's on our board and she's contributing as our treasurer and, you know, to see her skills develop and her confidence develop in that way, it's been really great for us to have somebody who is in that role. Nobody ever wants to be treasurer so it's great to have somebody who does! But also for her, to not just be confined to being in a disability-type volunteering role but to be exposed to a whole range of responsibilities and demands as a volunteer for our organisation, I think has been really good.
Proudly produced by:
- Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS)
- Youth Affairs Council of Victoria Inc (YACVic)
- Grit Media – 'Shamelessly disabled'
Transcript: What messages do you have for organisations wishing to hire young volunteers with a disability?
Amanda May (metro access officer – Knox City Council): I think it is all about promoting diversity. I think sometimes people forget that the images you use can be really important. So for example, with your brochures and posters make sure you are showing a diverse work force.
I think training as well is really important. Whether its induction or just some workshops on appreciating diversity – it doesn't have to be something expensive. You can guest speakers from support groups, which is what I have done in the past, or from peak advocacy bodies too.
Naomi Chainey (general manager – Grit Media): I think the advice I would give to organisations who are thinking about bringing people with a disability in as volunteers is that it's not a scary thing. People have skills. People have talents, and it is really important to utilise those and give people a chance.
In terms of accessibility, all you need to do is sit down and have a conversation with the person and find out what it is that they need. Talk to them about what their strengths are and what what they'd like to do and find ways to achieve those and I think it is absolutely worth doing and it does bring that diversity into your work place as well, which is beneficial for everybody there. So I think just go ahead, just do it.
Paul Papadatos (coordinator at Northland Youth Centre): Give people a go. If you give someone a go, you create a synergy; people get together and they work well with one another. If someone wants to do something and they want to give it a go, a bit of your time can make so much of a difference. Not just for them, even for you.
'Like' Northland Youth Centre on Facebook
Proudly produced by:
- Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS)
- Youth Affairs Council of Victoria Inc (YACVic)
- Grit Media – 'Shamelessly disabled'
Transcript: What are some of the ways organisations can support and be inclusive of young volunteers who have disability?
Naomi Chainey (general manager – Grit Media): We have training workshops for people, to make sure they are skilled up before they get through into volunteer work. One thing we're doing at the moment is we've got two community television programs going at the moment. One of them is specifically there to be a training show and the other one's there for the people who have a little bit more experience and know what they are doing. So, I think that is really important – having appropriate training for people.
Paul Papadatos (coordinator – Northland Youth Centre): Whenever Con comes and we do any drop-in program, we always have a brief, about how the dynamics are going to be that night, situations, setting up, and if any other community groups are coming in to present. So we have those conversations with the group, and including Con as well.
And then at the end of each program we have supervision and we talk about how the group went, what where the dynamics and stuff like that. Con gets involved in those conversations and he asks me questions and he will let me know if something's happening during the program where I might be in another section of the room, he'll come up and tell me.
Like I said: he's like my eyes, our James Bond, and he helps out and stuff.
Joy Little (volunteer program coordinator – EACH): First you have to make sure there is physical access; a bit of understanding about the particularly disability and what there needs are.
Georgie Ferrari (chief executive officer – Youth Affairs Council of Victoria): Obviously when you are trying to engage young people with disabilities in your voluntary work in your organisation, you have to think about what potential additional supports they might need. So that might be in terms of getting to and from the office, if they need assistance with train fares or taxis.
They might have other needs that we need to accommodate in the office. They might need to have an assistant that comes in with them so we have to think about do we have space? Do we need to make some modifications to the desk or where they are working?
We have done things like bought some equipment so that somebody can have a screen reader, all those sorts of things, headphones if they need that sort of stuff or whatever. It is always just a case of, it is quite simple and straight forward, it's like - what are their needs? And what can we meet? And what supports do they already have available to them to help us meet those needs and it is just usually a bit of negotiation and discussion and always works out pretty well and pretty simple.
Proudly produced by:
- Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS)
- Youth Affairs Council of Victoria Inc (YACVic)
- Grit Media – 'Shamelessly disabled'
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