Hanna, with nearly two years of dedicated volunteering under her belt, is a driver for Mersey Community Care, going the extra mile, quite literally, to support her community. Her role involves transporting members to appointments, aiding in family visits, and assisting with grocery shopping. She also extends her kindness to helping others during Mersey’s bus outings, ensuring passengers’ comfort with seat belts, walking sticks, and walking frames.
For Hanna, volunteering is simply an extension of her personality, driven by a genuine desire to help others.
Drawing from her diverse experiences, Hanna provides valuable insights into creating supportive environments for volunteers with disabilities. She emphasises the importance of open-mindedness and clear communication, stating, “Not everyone understands the same. Not everyone’s brain works the same.”
She encourages organisations to explicitly express their support for volunteers, assuring them that they can ask for help without fear of rejection.
Hanna also underscores the significance of language, urging the use of plain English and tailoring communication to individuals’ needs. She highlights the importance of considering diverse perspectives, such as using both 24-hour and 12-hour time formats on documents.
Additionally, she advocates for a more personalised approach during induction, suggesting organisations offer one-to-one explanations rather than overwhelming volunteers with extensive written information.
In terms of technology, Hanna recommends embracing tools that facilitate volunteering, especially for those with literacy difficulties. She shares her positive experience using a voice recorder during training sessions to capture information, suggesting its use as an alternative to filling out overwhelming forms. She says that providing volunteers with sample completed forms and key words would also assist in the process.
Hanna maintains an overwhelmingly positive outlook on her volunteering experience. She describes the environment at Mersey Community Care as inclusive and understanding, emphasising that if she doesn’t know something, she can always ask.
In Hanna’s world, volunteering is not just a task but a source of joy and connection.
