Disabled People as Volunteers

You may also like to browse the general resources in the Good Practice Bank's Core Themes. They cover topics such as 'Equal Opportunities and Diversity', 'Protection and Safeguarding of Vulnerable Clients' and 'Creating Volunteer Roles'. Visit the Good Practice Bank index to find a full list of themes.

Articles

• 'Equal opportunities and diversity' glossary - Volunteering England
• Executive summary of Time To Get Equal in Volunteering: tackling disablism - Scope (external link)

Example, Sample and Template Documents

Do you have any examples or experiences to share with the Good Practice Bank? Click here to find out how.

Case Studies

• Case studies about deaf volunteers
  These case studies were researched as part of Volunteering England's project to create a website video in sign language. Eight volunteers and volunteer co-ordinators share their experiences.

Links

Links to support and guidance from the volunteering sector

• Scope's Inclusive Volunteering Programme
  Scope runs an "Inclusive Volunteering" programme for anyone working with volunteers. It aims to help volunteer-involving organisations to become more aware of the needs of disabled volunteers and the benefits of working with them.
  http://www.scope.org.uk/support/volunteer/
• Goldstar Exemplar Programme
  A national programme aiming to highlight good practice in working with volunteers from socially excluded groups. The website contains profiles of exemplar volunteering projects and case studies about good practice.
  http://www.goldstar.org.uk/

Links to Government bodies covering disability and age issues

• Equality and Human Rights Commission
  This national Commission aims to reduce inequality, eliminate discrimination, strengthen good relations between people and protect human rights in the UK. It covers all the equalities strands; gender, race, age, faith/religion, disability and sexual orientation.
  (The website also contains information published by the pre-existing Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), Disability Rights Commission (DRC) and Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) which have all closed to create the new Equality and Human Rights Commission.)
  http://www.equalityhumanrights.com
  
• Age Positive website
  The Age Positive campaign promotes the benefits of working with a broad range of age groups, including older and younger people.
  www.agepositive.gov.uk/

Links to rules on volunteering while receiving state benefits, such as Incapacity Benefit or Employment and Support Allowance

• Visit the "Expenses and State Benefits" section of the Good Practice Bank for VE Information Sheets and links to guidance published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Jobcentre Plus network

Toolkits and Publications

Disabled volunteers

• Can Do Volunteering: a guide to involving young disabled people as volunteers - Scope and Leonard Cheshire (external link)
• Recruiting, Retaining and Developing Disabled Volunteers - Disability Rights Commission (PDF)

Volunteers who have a learning disability

• Volunteering for Everyone: A guide for organisations who want to include and recruit volunteers who have a learning disability - Volunteering England and Mencap (PDF)

Deaf volunteers

• Guidance on working with deaf or hard of hearing volunteers - The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (external link)
• Guidance on providing British Sign Language/English interpreters: a quick reference guide - Disability Rights Commission and RNID (PDF)

Priced publications

Disabled volunteers

• Volunteering by people with disabilities (A Route to Opportunity guide) - Volunteering England
• Making Your Organisation Accessible: a mini guide - Volunteering England

Volunteers with mental health issues

• You Cannot Be Serious! A guide to involving volunteers with mental health problems - Volunteering England

Share your experiences!

The Good Practice Bank is growing steadily as more information is added to it. An important feature of the Bank is allowing users to share their documents with other volunteering organisations. We are particularly interested in receiving example policies or documents that you are happy to share with others. If we use your contribution, you could win a book on volunteering from our regular prize draw.

• If your organisation has an example to contribute, please use our simple form to submit it.
• Or, please send us an email or telephone 0800 028 3304 (Monday-Friday, 10.30am-12.30pm and 2.00pm-4.00pm)
• We welcome calls through Typetalk/TextDirect. Please dial 18001 followed by 0800 028 3304 (opening hours as above).