Benefits, Barriers and Bringing About Change: Disability Inclusive Volunteering (2019)

25/05/2020

Published: October 2019

Authors: Victoria ALIVE Project Team in partnership with Neighbourhood Houses Victoria and Volunteering Victoria

Some volunteer-support organisations report that there are more people with disability who want to volunteer than there are roles available in organisations for them. A key aim of this study was to explore ways in which organisations can reduce barriers for volunteers with disability by improving their practices and promoting positive cultures.

The project research activities included a) benchmarking surveys of volunteer-involving organisations, b) focus groups and one-on-one interviews with volunteer managers and volunteers with lived experience of disability and c) case studies on organisations identified as undertaking best practices.

Content for this report is based on learnings from the Victoria ALIVE project activities including multi-factor research, a Project Advisory Group, community forums and collaboration with various organisations.

There are barriers to inclusive volunteering for people with disability. Eg, difficulty in finding out about volunteer opportunities. Many people with disability do not have easy access to the internet where a lot of volunteering opportunities are advertised. There are also barriers for organisations eg resources to implement strategies.  There is also direct organisational discrimination: excluding people because of their disability.

However, there are many benefits for organisations who engage with people with disability eg tapping into more diverse skills and perspectives. Furthermore, there are many benefits for people with disability eg it can increase connections within community and reduce social isolation. There are pathways to change eg promoting volunteer roles and opportunities directly to local disability organisations including disability service providers, peak bodies and special schools.

The paper outlines a number of future initiatives to improve disability inclusiveness in volunteering eg disability inclusive volunteer management training package.  Another example is supported volunteer placement services for people with disability.

The full report is available here.