Working with youth with disabilities

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Abstract

Service programs looking to incorporate youth with disabilities may have concerns about proper etiquette, accommodation strategies, and overcoming common misconceptions. Youth Volunteer Corps of America partnered with Mitsubishi, Inc., and the University of Kansas to create a guidebook to assist organizations with recruiting and engaging youth with disabilities in community service. This effective practice was abstracted from Youth Volunteer Corps: Training Manual for Working with Youth Volunteers Who Have Disabilities, which was designed by youth, youth development professionals, and persons with disabilities.

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Issue

Many obstacles have the potential to deter youth volunteers with disabilities from participating in all regularly scheduled activities. Community service programs should take the time to assess facilities and personnel for potential problems.

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Action

How accessible is your program for participants with various types of disabilities? Several factors must be taken into account, such as architectural or environmental barriers to access. Sometimes the most difficult obstacles to surmount are attitudes of prejudice and stereotyping.

Etiquette for Working with Volunteers with Disabilities

Always consider the person first and use language that reflects this attitude. An example of "person-first" language: a woman with a disability (not a disabled woman). Understand that youth coping with both adolescence and a disability face particularly difficult life adjustments and challenges, such as:

  • Dealing with the limitations of their disability
  • Recognizing, expressing, and accepting their feelings
  • Understanding how others feel about and react to their disabilities
  • Being a teenager...who is also a person with a disability

Remember that a disability is just one part of a person. People are not their disabilities. Schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and assigned tasks such as community service can contribute a great deal to self-esteem.

Greetings and communications

  • If you are uncertain about the wants or needs of a volunteer with a disability, ASK! Don't assume a person wants your help, or that you know what is best for her or him. If you want to know whether to help an individual who you think experiences limitations caused by a disability, simply ask, "May I be of assistance?" or "Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?" This will break the ice and allow the individual to tell you what, if anything, is needed.
  • If the youth has visual limitations, or is blind, identify yourself and shake hands. If the young person is alone and needs to get to another location, offer him or her the option of taking your arm for direction. Let the person feel the back of the chair where she or he is to sit.
  • If the youth has a hearing impairment, or is deaf, and you do not know sign language, look directly at the youth, speak in your normal tone of voice, and be prepared to correspond in writing. Have notepads and pencils available. Offer the services of an interpreter, if necessary. If an assistant or an interpreter accompanies the youth, talk directly to the youth, not the interpreter. The interpreter may ask to sit next to you to handle the communication process more smoothly.
  • If the youth has a cognitive disability, there is no need to "talk down." Greet him or her as you would any other volunteer and use the vocabulary common to the program. Through experience you will discover how to successfully communicate on an ongoing basis.
  • In the process of signing up for service, or during the interview process, youth volunteers should have an opportunity to discuss their likes and dislikes, strengths and challenges, and indicate the kinds of projects they might be interested in or may have done in the past. After this basic introduction, you might want to ask, "How would you perform the tasks required by the project and what kinds of accommodations, if any, would be needed?" More than likely this young person knows better than any one else what she or he needs to overcome any obstacles or limitations.
  • Always deal with the person first. Then, and only then, explore the possibility that the youth might require an accommodation to complete the tasks for service.
  • As a program director or team leader, your actions will model the appropriate behaviors for others to follow. Therefore, you must be deliberate and mindful of your actions, attitudes, and behaviors. Discussions and role playing activities regarding issues of disability should include other volunteers as well as staff.
Myths about people with disabilities
  • Able-bodied individuals have an obligation to care for people with disabilities. It should never be assumed that an individual with a disability needs help with whatever she or he is doing. Always ask before assisting, since assistance may not be needed or wanted.
  • Everyone who uses a wheelchair for mobility is paralyzed. Numerous disabilities can affect mobility. Many people who use wheelchairs do have sensation in their legs and are able to stand and walk, but a wheelchair helps them get around more quickly while expending less energy.
  • It is rude for children to express curiosity about people who use assistive devices and why they do so.Children are naturally curious about things they are not familiar with. Many people with disabilities enjoy talking to children and answering their questions about assistive devices. This is a terrific way for children to gain first-hand knowledge of people with disabilities and provides an opportunity to educate them that people who use assistive devices are not different from those who do not use them.
  • People with disabilities are sick. A disability does not necessarily imply illness. Many people with disabilities live very healthy lives.
  • All people with disabilities are alike. There are many disabilities and there is no single characteristic that applies to every one with a disability. People should be approached as individuals with many different interests and talents, likes and dislikes.
  • Hearing aids fully correct hearing impairments. Hearing aids are assistive devices that amplify sound but do not restore hearing to "normal" levels.
  • Individuals with hearing impairments lack the ability to speak. Many, but not all, people with hearing impairments do speak. However, due to the fact that they can't hear themselves speak, many have difficulty controlling tone and volume.
  • Blindness affects sensory perception of other organs, either decreasing or increasing their effectiveness. Blindness affects only an individual's ability to see. It does not impact other sensory abilities. However, individuals who have lost part or all of their sight may rely more often on their remaining senses and may thus attend to information form those systems more than individuals with sight.
  • People with brain injuries have a low IQ. Individuals who have sustained a brain injury have specific deficits as a result of the brain area affected. These problems do not affect all mental activity.

Accommodating and Involving Youth Volunteers with Disabilities in Community Service

Involving youth with disabilities in a variety of settings often means providing or allowing the use of accommodations to remove barriers to service. Each setting will need to be assessed for accessibility and evaluations made on a case-by-case basis.The accommodations needed for a volunteer with a disability may not be readily apparent. Provide an accurate task description explaining the duties involved in working at the service site then ask the individual what accommodations he or she needs to carry out those duties. There may be a task the person can't perform even with accommodations. If such a situation exists, decide if the task in question is absolutely critical, or if someone else could do that particular task. If it is not critical, the task description should be amended and other duties substituted. If the task is critical to the work in that setting, then it is time to consider placement in another project or in another setting. Many barriers can be removed by making only minor modifications or adjustments to the service environment.


The following are examples of minor physical accommodations:

  • Remove the mechanical tension arm on a door so that the door is easier to open and does not close automatically
  • Move a fax machine from a room with no room for a wheelchair to a more accessible location, such as a desktop in the front office
  • Provide a speaker phone, which does not need to be grasped and held for long periods of time

The folllowing are examples of programmatic accommodations:

  • Alternative meeting places
  • Alternate media formats
  • Large print (at least 14 point font)
  • Audio tape
  • Braille

Other types of information can also be put into alternate formats, such as televised captioning, or an interpreter can be provided to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.Some young people may allow others to do things they are capable of doing themselves. Sometimes assistance is both needed and appreciated. At other times it is not really needed, but provided (and accepted) because someone else is able to do the task more quickly. Some young people come from environments in which assistance has been constantly available, a situation that has not provided them with the opportunity to explore their own potential to function more independently. You help foster greater independence and self-esteem when you encourage and allow all volunteers to utilize their own abilities by performing all the activities they are able to perform.

Curriculum, Surveys, and Written Reflection

Many community service programs have questionnaires, surveys, or other written work to be completed as part of their application, reflection, or exit processes. The same aforementioned accommodations apply in these situations. Instruments that require writing should be administered in ways that allow the participant to be as independent as possible. If an individual has a disability that does not hinder her or his writing abilities, give the assignment in the same way you would for any other youth volunteer. Nevertheless, some youths with certain disabilities might not be able to complete written activities even though he or she may have the ability to complete the project as a whole. Be flexible enough to rely on alternative methods of training and education.

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Context

This manual was developed to provide Youth Volunteer Corps affiliates with a background on disability issues to integrate all volunteer, regardless of ability, into Youth Volunteer Corps. It was made possible through funding from the Mitsubishi Electric Foundation and the Dole Foundation.

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Citation

White, Glen W., Katherine Froehlich, and Veronica Knight. Youth Volunteer Corps: Training Manual for Working with Youth Volunteers Who Have Disabilities. Youth Volunteer Corps of America, 2000.

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Outcome

For too long, individuals with disabilities have been viewed as recipients, not providers of service. However, many are fully capable and willing to provide service to others in their community. Their desire to become active volunteers should not be overlooked. Their involvement should not be merely as token volunteers, but as fully participating, active, and responsible partners of the community service team.

Inclusion of youth with disabilities should encompass all individuals, no matter what type of disability they have. Youths with various types of disabilities should be represented among the volunteer membership, including those with mobility impairments, sensory disorders, cognitive disorders, or other disabilities.

Youth volunteers with disabilities should be considered full members of the volunteer team. All youth volunteers should be encouraged to share their experiences and voice their ideas. When youth with disabilities are taught to express themselves, they build greater self-confidence and broaden the perspective of their fellow youth volunteers.

Youths encounter limited opportunities to experience the types of positive activities that facilitate the development of leadership roles. The case is even truer for youth with disabilities. By providing community service, these young people experience first-hand their ability to impact the community in which they live and enhance their sense of empowerment.

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Posted On

September 17, 2001

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Resources

This manual can be purchased from the Youth Volunteer Corps for $10.00 (plus shipping and handling). Call Veronica Knight at 1-888-828-9822.

Programs funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service can borrow the manual from the lending library of The Resource Center:

Item number: C1202

Related Practices

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Related sites

Research & Training Center on Independent Living

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