As Volunteering Week begins, we’re incredibly excited to tell you all about our amazing new Volunteering Hub, providing accessible volunteering for adults with learning disabilities.
This special part of our of our Insight app is designed to make volunteering easy and fun for everyone.
Accessible opportunities and features
The Volunteering Hub is packed with accessible features. It works smoothly with screen readers, and soon it will even be available in Welsh!
We have filled it with lots of Easy Read guides and simple videos to help our members understand everything about the Hub and its opportunities.
Here, you can learn what volunteering truly means and why it’s so rewarding to help others. You can even connect and chat with people in our Volunteering Hub group!
Want to know more? Read on to discover how we made the Volunteering Hub and how our wonderful Creator Volunteers helped shape it!
Co-producing the Volunteering Hub with our Creator Volunteers
Our Creator Volunteers are truly amazing, and the Volunteering Hub would not be what it is without them!
We have learned so much from them, and their input has been invaluable.
They helped us create guides and content that perfectly fit the needs of our Volunteering Hub members, providing accessible volunteering for adults with learning disabilities.
Our Creator Volunteers told us what kind of volunteering they like best, which helps us tailor opportunities specifically for our Insight members.
For example, they shared that they love volunteering in groups with other people. Some liked the idea of having their support team with them, while others wanted independent volunteering in a supportive environment.
So, because of this feedback, we made a plan to offer more of those kinds of sessions and opportunities!
Shaping the future: working with other organisations
Our Creator Volunteers did not just improve our Volunteering Hub. They also helped us work with other groups to make volunteering more accessible across the board.
They had important discussions about making getting references easier for new volunteers.
Together, they co-produced Easy Reads, including tips and support for getting ready to volunteer and help with references.
Making Oxfam’s reference process more accessible
When Oxfam asked for our help with their reference process, we worked closely with them to make it easier for volunteers with learning disabilities.
Thanks to this collaboration, Oxfam is now going to change how they recruit new volunteers with learning disabilities, especially around references. That is a huge step forward!
Easy Videos with Learning Disability Wales
We have also teamed up with Learning Disability Wales, and together we have started to make guides for Easy Videos.
While there are many great guides for Easy Reads, we noticed a gap when it came to publicly available guides for Easy Videos.
Our Creator Volunteers are helping us to fill this gap! They had so many great ideas and feedback to share with Learning Disability Wales.
We found out that many people like to get information about volunteering through videos, so making easy videos with our volunteers was really important.
Feeling proud and valued
Our Creator Volunteers feel so proud of their work, as they should be! Their work has helped to create an online space that allows opportunities for accessible volunteering for adults with learning disabilities.
They told us they feel more valued and that their ideas are truly heard. They are happy knowing that they helping to make volunteering better for other people with learning disabilities.
Being a Creator Volunteer has been such an empowering part of this project, giving them a huge sense of achievement and confidence!
Benefiting our communities
The Volunteering Hub has been live and used by our communities since November 2024. Where has the time gone?
Since then, over a thousand people have used the Volunteering Hub, whether to look for opportunities, read inspiring stories from their peers, or to post their own opportunities.
We have just signed up and I also wanted to pass on feedback on how excellent and clear the sign-up process was, so many volunteering platforms are not this user-friendly.
The Volunteering Hub…looks amazing, you have done an incredible job.
The Volunteering Hub has even helped new people we had not worked with before to get involved in volunteering, too!
Martin viewed the Volunteering Hub with his support worker and has already applied to be a gardener at the Secret Garden.
He has also attended tree planting with Coed Caerdydd and nature conservation volunteering with the Cardiff Rangers, all through the Volunteering Hub!
What were the challenges of building the Volunteering Hub?
Creating a place that everyone can use was a bit tricky, and we learned a lot along the way.
Accessibility means different things to different people
People sometimes have different views on what “accessible” means.
We saw this when working across different teams to create the Volunteering Hub.
However, we learned that these different views can complement each other, leading to a better outcome!
Asking individuals what they need and then tailoring services to them is hugely beneficial. At the same time, following WCAG guidelines is important to ensure our Volunteering Hub meets global accessibility requirements.
Working together across departments helps acknowledge various viewpoints and specialities, giving us a more rounded view of accessibility and ultimately a more accessible service.
True co-production takes time
Effectively co-producing a new platform or resources takes time. It takes patience to do this well.
Things can change constantly when you gather individuals’ views.
For example, if we listen to someone and change our plan, it might take more time.
Increasing everyone’s awareness of co-production and its benefits helps foster understanding. Being flexible is very important when co-producing a new service.
There were times when we would create a feature based on ideas, and after trialling it with our volunteers, the ideas didn’t work too well in practice. And that’s okay!
Addressing stigma
There’s still a need for greater awareness around adults with learning disabilities.
More emphasis needs to be placed on what individuals tell us they need, not just on advice from third parties. We need to listen to what people with learning disabilities tell us they need, not just what other people think.
There should be no shame in asking for more support to ensure volunteers with learning disabilities are fully included.
We found that when meeting with some organisations, they questioned why our guides and Easy Read resources are needed.
We explain that our resources are co-produced by people with learning disabilities, focusing on what each person needs. Our resources aim to educate people about barriers and help remove them.
Not enough ways to get online
While creating the Volunteering Hub, we ran into the challenge of some adults with disabilities not having ways to get online.
There are still many barriers that prevent adults with learning disabilities from accessing volunteering opportunities.
One thing we found is that there aren’t enough places to learn computer skills or get the right devices.
Training on how to send an email, make a phone call, or use a screen reader would be especially beneficial for adults with learning disabilities who want to engage with online spaces like our Volunteering Hub.
At Innovate Trust, we have projects to help people get online. But sometimes, you have to live in a certain place or be a certain age, or need a Social Worker to get help.
We have worked with people who would really benefit from these services, but they cannot get them right now.
Looking forward
The journey of building the Volunteering Hub has been incredibly rewarding.
The challenges we faced along the way were invaluable learning experiences, constantly inspiring us to adapt and innovate.
We are so proud of the Volunteering Hub and its Creator Volunteers. This feature of our Insight app is helping more people to volunteer and feel part of their community!
