Disability Volunteer Roles in North East
How you can make a difference!
Sense Holidays gives children, young people, adults with complex disabilities and their families the opportunity to have fun, meet new people and try new activities. Sense Holidays take place across the UK at a range of venues and vary. Each year we need skilled volunteers to help us deliver this exciting programme.
The Volunteer Role involves:
- Staying in touch with Sense and your Holiday Leader before and during the Sense Holiday, raising any issues or concerns that may need addressing by the wider team.
- Attending the equivalent of one full day mandatory training which will be delivered virtually. You will also be asked to complete online e-Learning prior to the holiday.
- You will provide hands on support for the people on the holiday to meet their everyday needs. This may involve but is not limited to; supporting them to participate in group activities, making activities accessible to their particular needs, supporting the building of friendships and social communication.
- You may also be required to support holidaymakers with personal care including support with eating and drinking, washing, bathing and toileting.
- Carry out tasks of daily living, such as cleaning the venue and cooking to maintain a clean and safe living environment.
- For those qualified and willing, you may be asked to complete Driving for Sense and drive an accessible vehicle on the holiday this could be a car, van or minibus depending on the holiday.
Volunteer Role Criteria
Essential criteria:
- Aged 18 or over.
- Have experience supporting those with additional needs. Please note, we can offer a small number of places to those who are less experienced.
- A skilled communicator.
- Have a positive, can-do attitude.
- Can demonstrate reliability.
- Can demonstrate resilience.
Desirable:
- Able to use British Sign Language.
- Experience in moving and handling.
- A full driving license and willingness to drive on a holiday.
- Experience cooking for large groups.
Why Volunteer for Sense?
Sense is a national disability charity supporting everyone who is deafblind or has complex disabilities. We believe everyone should be able to take part in life, no matter their disability.
Volunteering on a Sense Holiday requires resilience but offers an incredibly rewarding experience.
Benefits
- All food, drink, accommodation, and activities on the holiday are paid for by Sense Holidays.
- You will receive comprehensive training for your role.
- The chance to practice and use your existing skills to communicate with others.
- An opportunity to develop new skills and knowledge about communicating and working with people with complex communication needs and multi-sensory impairments.
- Up to £60 of your travel expense paid.
- Full support from our team, including induction and training for this role, and regular ongoing support.
Ready to make a difference?
Sense is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable children and adults and expects all volunteers to share this commitment. Therefore, all offers of places are subject to an enhanced DBS check.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Could you provide a loving home for a guide dog mum?
We urgently need more breeding dog volunteers to look after our guide dog mums and help us raise the next generation of life-changing guide dogs for people with sight loss.
This vital volunteer role is perfect for dog-lovers who are looking for a permanent addition to their family. Most of the time your guide dog mum will be a wonderful, pet dog, then roughly once a year you’ll also get to enjoy the company of a litter of her guide dog puppies for around 7 weeks. You’ll see her puppies grow in just a matter of weeks – from tiny newborns with closed eyes, to excitable bundles of fur ready to explore the world. And, when the pups are ready to go, you’ll feel a huge sense of pride knowing you’ve made a big difference by raising life-changing guide dogs for people with sight loss.
Our guide dog mums are perfect for families. They’re specially selected for their ideal temperament and characteristics and have the very best guide dog genes. She’ll also arrive socialised and house trained!
We cover all the costs for our guide dog mums, including her food, vet bills and any equipment or bedding she needs. We’ll also provide all the training you need to look after her and her puppies. In addition, you’ll have the full support of our expert dog behaviour and welfare teams and dedicated 24/7 support from our specialist breeding team.
This opportunity is unique to the Midlands as our breeding dog volunteers must live within an hour’s drive of our National Centre, just outside Leamington Spa, CV33 9QJ
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Are you a good listener? Are you able to manage group conversations and ensure people feel comfortable together and that groups run smoothly? We need you to facilitate our weekly telephone groups that offer blind and partially sighted people the opportunity to socialise with others. This is a telephone-based role that you can do from home. You will need access to a landline and/or mobile phone We ask you to commit to between 1 and 3 hours per week to facilitate Talk and Support befriending groups which will be at the same day and time each week. Each group runs for an hour.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Together we will work to reduce discrimination, injustice and inequality by transforming behaviours, attitudes and misconceptions towards sight loss. By signing up as an RNIB Campaigns Occasional Helper with Sighted Guiding, you could make a real difference by supporting blind and partially sighted people to take action on issues that matter to them. You could help with: • sighted guiding / giving practical help to individuals so they can take part in events; • supporting volunteers with sight loss with their volunteering activities; • awareness-raising and campaigning on issues that affect those living with little or no sight; Gyda’n gilydd byddwn yn gweithio i leihau gwahaniaethu, anghyfiawnder ac anghydraddoldeb trwy drawsnewid ymddygiad, agweddau a chamsyniadau tuag at golled golwg. Drwy gofrestru fel Cynorthwy-ydd Tywys Achlysurol ar gyfer Ymgyrchoedd RNIB, gallech wneud gwahaniaeth gwirioneddol drwy gefnogi pobl ddall ac â golwg rhannol i weithredu ar faterion sydd o bwys iddynt. Gallech chi helpu drwy: • tywys / rhoi cymorth ymarferol i unigolion fel y gallant gymryd rhan mewn digwyddiadau; • cefnogi gwirfoddolwyr gyda cholled golwg gyda'u gweithgareddau gwirfoddoli; • codi ymwybyddiaeth ac ymgyrchu ar faterion sy'n effeithio ar y rhai sy'n byw ag ychydig neu ddim golwg;
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
With over 14,000 people in the North East living with some form of sight loss, our amazing Community Volunteers play a key role in connecting blind and partially sighted people to each other, their community, and to wider internal and external services. RNIB attends events aimed at providing information and awareness. We need volunteers to help us continue this valuable work. Volunteers are needed to attend events with staff members, help set up equipment, give out leaflets and basic info to the public. Sighted volunteers may also be asked to guide visually impaired volunteers occasionally.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Are you a good listener? Are you able to manage group conversations and ensure people feel comfortable together and that groups run smoothly? We need you to facilitate our weekly telephone groups that offer blind and partially sighted people the opportunity to socialise with others. This is a telephone-based role that you can do from home. You will need access to a landline and/or mobile phone We ask you to commit to between 1 and 3 hours per week to facilitate Talk and Support befriending groups which will be at the same day and time each week. Each group runs for an hour.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
About the role
After several years of relying on the efforts from our Co-Founders, Trustees and temporary volunteers we are looking to take the next step in our growth journey through the placement of our first longer-term volunteer.
This role will be designed to oversee all marketing and social media activities of the organization, and to provide leadership to a small group of wonderful and talented student volunteers from London based Universities as they complete tactical projects for ParaPride as part of their studies. This will also include supporting Daniele, our Co-Founder and Community Engagement Director, with planning and reporting of their activities to the university.
The leadership you will provide will initially be indirect, with Daniele being ultimately responsible for the students activities, so we expect this to be a wonderful opportunity for a seasoned marketing or social media professional who would like the opportunity to gain team leadership experience.
Duties
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Advise on how to best grow overall awareness and success of the ParaPride brand.
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Oversee the continuous development of our content creation schedule and distribution of engaging, thought provoking and educational content for our media channels, notably LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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Provide support and guidance to a small team of student volunteers to develop social media and marketing content that supports the mission, vision and values of ParaPride - directly participating in the creation of content at your discretion.
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Ad-hoc creation and distribution of promotional assets for ParaPride events.
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Identify and establish potential additional media channels where it is sustainable to do so with the resources available.
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Maintain the organisations Brand assets and monitor and advise of their use and ensure consistency with our established tone of voice in written content.
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Build partnerships with social media brand ambassadors/influencers to support content creation and brand awareness.
We will also welcome any additional suggestions for how you might wish to apply your skills to support ParaPride in its mission.
The impact you will have
We hope for this role to continue to develop the way that we present ourselves as inclusivity and empowerment champions to the communities we support, our partners and the general public. With your help we will be able to continue to drive awareness and engagement to our activities to make them more impactful than ever before.
About you
Ideally we are looking for someone with 3+ years experience in marketing and/or social media. However, we encourage marketing graduates who can demonstrate strong alignment with our mission, vision and values.
We strongly welcome candidates that have lived experiences of being disabled and/or LGBTQ+, although this not an explicit requirement
Bonus
If you have strong graphic design skills it would be a big plus.
Level of commitment
We are a growing charity and while it is our goal to provide financial compensation for this role in the future, we are unable to initially. In full transparency, this is only an indication of our ambition and will be dependent on a lot of factors linked to appropriate funding. Please do not apply at this time if this is a primary motivator for you, we hope to have more suitable roles for you in time to come.
We are dedicated to be fully respectful of your time, but expect a minimum contribution of 4 hours per month on average (varying according to demand), remote, completely flexible and at time convenient to you. As this is a supervisory role, which we hope to bring continuity to our ways of working, we would like to work with you with an intended 2+ years term (situationally dependent).
Accessibility statement
At ParaPride, we are committed to ensuring that all of our engagements are as accessible and as inclusive as possible. These include applying for and interviewing for roles. Whilst we understand that we can never be fully accessible as everybody's needs are different, we strive to be proactive with thinking about accessibility requirements.
When applying for a role at ParaPride, if you would like to get in touch to talk about any access requirements, please contact us using the details below and we will arrange a date and time to have a conversation with you.
We offer several diverse ways of applying for a role. These include:
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Sending an email
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Recording an audio or video
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Having a face-to-face conversation (on a digital platform)
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Could you be an Action for M.E. Trustee?
Are you impatient for change, passionate and have time to spare to make a positive impact? Around 1.3 million children and adults in the UK with M.E. and M.E.-like symptoms following Covid-19 urgently need people like you.
Action for M.E. is the only UK charity support children and adults with M.E., through information, support, advocacy and healthcare services while working to secure change for the future. Over half of our Board of Trustees have direct experience of M.E.
We are a small organisation that regularly punches above its weight, working on a national and international scale and are delighted to be working with staff, volunteers and our Board of Trustees team who are passionate, dedicated and determined. We have high aspirations and ambitions and believe that Action for M.E. can, and will, make a major contribution to creating the change that is so desperately needed.
As a Trustee, you will play a crucial role in guiding Action for M.E. to deliver critical services to meet present needs, while working to secure change for the future.
You will work as part of a dynamic Board of Trustees, helping to shape the strategic direction of the charity, bring fresh ideas and perspectives, ensure effective governance and financial stewardship and make a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve.
We're looking for up to three individuals, from diverse backgrounds and experiences. We have a particular need for those who bring skills in either one or more of the following areas: research, science, local/national government, policy/advocacy and communications. These will complement the skills we currently have on the Board.
Are you committed to making a difference? Do you want to accelerate change? If you are ready to contribute your time and expertise to this worthwhile cause, we want to hear from you.
Join us in our mission to transform lives. Become our Charity Trustee today!
Please review the application pack attached for further instructions on how to apply to become our next Action for M.E. trustee.
We are a Disability Confident employer and welcome any reasonable adjustment requests required to take part in this recruitment process.
The closing date for applications is 30 April 2024, with interviews happening on a rolling basis.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Who are Midland Mencap?
Midland Mencap is a charity which works and campaigns for accessible and inclusive services and a better quality of life for everyone with experience of learning disabilities and additional needs.
Purpose of the role.
To connect people wanting to cycle more with volunteer Bike Buddies who want to help them. We have people from many different backgrounds wanting support with their cycling for many reasons.
For example:
· Coming back to cycling after time off
· Disability or ill health
· Finding quiet roads and cycle paths around the neighbourhood
· Building up confidence on busy roads
· Sharing experiences of things like cycling at night or what clothes to wear
· Checking bikes together before a ride
Bike Buddies provide crucial support and motivation to help people to participate in inclusive and adapted outdoor cycling. Volunteers support cyclists to achieve their fitness goals and enjoy cycling in our community.
Our Bike Buddies are great ambassadors for cycling, sharing their expertise of local routes and giving others the confidence to get around by bike.
If you feel confident cycling on the road or in a park with someone else, and are wanting to give back to others, this is the role for you.
What would I be doing?
You’ll need to find out what they want to do and where they want to go. Some people want to explore quiet streets locally or plan a longer journey. You may ride to the park or show them local routes – quiet ways, new cycle lanes and off-road paths are popular.
They may want to try out junctions or crossing busy roads – think about how to ride those safely. You may support a person at one of our pre-arranged Parkride cycle meetings and help them to develop the skills and confidence to cycle safely and independently.
What do I need?
This role will require:
· A roadworthy bike and riding equipment.
· Experience of regular cycling
· Some experience of cycle maintenance
· A cycling competence session with parkride staff
· Friendly, calm, and patient
· A good listener & happy to chat
· Accepting of people who may be different to you
· Willing to learn and act within guidelines set out by Midland Mencap
· Good time management skills, reliability
· An enhanced DBS check will be required by all successful applicants.
When and where do you need me?
Either at organised events or 1-2-1 within your local area.
Ideally you can meet once or twice a month for approx. 2 hours.
We have parkride sessions running throughout the week including evenings and weekends.
What’s in it for me?
As one of our valued volunteers, Midland Mencap will offer you:
• The opportunity to make a difference to the lives of people with disabilities and their family carers
• An induction and settling in period
• Any training and development that is needed
• The chance to develop your skills and gain experience
• The opportunity to meet new people and be part of a diverse team
• Support within your role
• Any out-of-pocket travel expenses
• Lots of appreciation for your amazing contribution
• Positive wellbeing from doing something great
• Improve career opportunities by adding your volunteer role to a CV
To campaign for and deliver accessible and inclusive community health and wellbeing support services for individuals, families, and carers.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Midland Mencap is a charity which works and campaigns for accessible and inclusive services and a better quality of life for everyone with experience of learning disabilities and additional needs
Purpose of the role
With your friendly attitude and knowledge of the local area, you could be the support a Midland Mencap citizen needs to access and enjoy their local community and make a big difference to their lives.
Some of our citizens may be dealing with a variety of difficulties including depression, isolation, physical and mental health problems, Your role will be to help them to enjoy their local community in the way that they want; this may include activities such as going shopping, attending an event, visiting a park or a local facility – and having fun.
What would I be doing?
·Visit a Midland Mencap citizen
·Accompany them to agreed community locations and activities
·Provide a befriending support role to ensure the citizen enjoys a positive experience
· To record and maintain basic records as required
·To ensure the activities undertaken complies with safeguarding, equal opportunities, health & safety and other policies and the guidelines provided by Midland Mencap.
What do I need?
· Being approachable and friendly
· Good communication skills
· Knowledge of, and able to travel to local places
· Accepting of others who might be different to you and the ability to work as part of a diverse team
· A willingness to learn and act within guidelines set out by Midland Mencap
· Good time management skills, reliability
· An enhanced DBS check will be required by all successful applicants.
When and where do you need me?
· A minimum of 2 visits per month
· Days and times are flexible and agreed in advance, but there may be some specific activities the citizen wishes to attend
· In the local community
What’s in it for me?
As one of our valued volunteers, Midland Mencap will offer you:
· The opportunity to make a difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities and their family carers
· An induction and settling in period
· Any training and development that is needed
· The chance to develop your skills and gain experience
· The opportunity to meet new people and be part of a diverse team
· Support within your role
· Any out-of-pocket travel expenses
· Lots of appreciation for your amazing contribution
· Positive wellbeing from doing something great
· Improve career opportunities by adding your volunteer role to a CV and ask us for a reference
To campaign for and deliver accessible and inclusive community health and wellbeing support services for individuals, families, and carers.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Midland Mencap seeks a passionate volunteer photographer/videographer to capture the energy and joy of our sports, health, and wellbeing community sessions in Birmingham or Walsall.
Help us showcase the positive impact of our services by documenting participants' stories and achievements.
Share their smiles, successes, and inspire others to get involved with Midland Mencap!
What would I be doing?
Attend sports, health, and wellbeing sessions: Be present at designated sessions to capture content.
Capture photos and videos: Document activities, participant interactions, and highlight positive moments.
Tell visual stories: Use photo and video to convey the spirit of the sessions and the impact they have on participants.
Potential for interviews: Conduct short interviews with participants to gather testimonials.
Collaborate with the marketing team: Share content for use in promotional materials, social media, and the website.
What do I need?
For this role you will need
· Access to own digital camera equipment or modern smartphone
· Able to travel independently in the Birmingham / West Midlands area
· Friendly, calm, and patient
· Accepting of people who may be different to you
· Happy to chat and a good listener
· Willing to learn and act within guidelines set out by Midland Mencap
· An enhanced DBS check and references will be required
When and where do you need me?
· 2 - 4 times a month at sessions across Birmingham or Walsall
What’s in it for me?
As one of our valued volunteers, Midland Mencap will offer you:
· Gain valuable digital media experience.
· The opportunity to make a difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities
and their family carers
· Any training and development that is needed
· The opportunity to meet new people and be part of a diverse team
· Support within your role
· Agreed out-of-pocket expenses
· Lots of appreciation for your amazing contribution
· Positive wellbeing from doing something great
· Improve career opportunities by adding your volunteer role to a CV
To campaign for and deliver accessible and inclusive community health and wellbeing support services for individuals, families, and carers.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Many people struggle to enjoy cycling, and some families often find the cost of adapted bikes mean that they cannot share fun times together.
Parkride is a fun and flexible inclusive cycling project using a range of adapted and standard bikes that provides anyone, regardless of age, ability or need, with the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors through cycling.
We require a volunteer van driver to help us deliver our custom-made bikes and trikes to locations such as parks and community centers around the West Midlands.
We’ve got the van; we just need you!
What would I be doing?
· You will be a vital link between us and the families we support, helping us to get the team and bikes to where they’re needed for arranged sessions.
· You’ll be the friendly face of Parkride, interacting with the families and ensuring the bikes are kept safe and secure whilst the team are out riding.
· Working with staff to load/unload the van before and after sessions.
What do I need?
· Minimum age 25
· Experience of driving a large van with a suitable driving licence
· A full and clean driving licence (held for a minimum of 5 years)
· Some lifting will be required and so a basic level of fitness is needed.
· Being approachable and friendly with good communication skills
· Accepting of others who might be different to you and the ability to work as part of a diverse team
· A willingness to learn and work within guidelines set out by Midland Mencap
· Honesty, integrity and trustworthy
· Good time management skills, reliability
· An enhanced DBS check will be required by all successful applicants.
When and where do you need me?
· The van is based at our head office in Woodgate Valley – B32 3BZ.
· We have several parkride sessions running throughout the week including evenings and weekends. Sessions vary from 2-4 hours (plus travel).
· We run sessions throughout the Midlands, including Birmingham (all areas), Dudley, Sandwell, Coventry, and Sutton Coldfield. You can choose which sessions you wish to attend.
· All sessions are weather dependent; however, we only cancel sessions in extreme weather. We would advise having a warm waterproof coat and suitable shoes.
What’s in it for me?
As one of our valued volunteers, Midland Mencap will offer you:
· The opportunity to make a difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities and their family carers
· Improved physical and mental wellbeing from keeping active
· An induction and settling in period
· Any training and development that is needed
· The chance to develop your skills and gain experience
· The opportunity to meet new people and be part of a diverse team
· Support within your role
· Agreed out-of-pocket travel expenses
· Lots of appreciation for your amazing contribution
To campaign for and deliver accessible and inclusive community health and wellbeing support services for individuals, families, and carers.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Do you have experience of using assistive and accessible technology? We'd love you to volunteer at our monthly drop in sessions for customers at Gateshead Central Library. Help local people with sight loss become independent technology users and enjoy the benefits of being online. You'll work closely with individuals, supporting them to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to get the most out of technology.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Our roaming tech volunteers provide one-to-one support to people with sight loss, visiting them in their own homes to help them get the most out of technology. They may help customers set up a new device, learn new features or trouble shoot tech problems. Roaming tech volunteers support people local to them.
*Identify and resolve computer problems; Install hardware, software and upgrades; New technology training; Support people with IT development.
*Helping blind and partially sighted people to use tech in their own home.
*Helping people remotely.
*Use our online system to manage requests for technology help and update progress to resolve problem.
*Customer focused approach; empowering attitude; Good communication skills; Natural tech user; Problem solving skills.
*Understanding Sight Loss Pack; Induction; Expenses; Support from Volunteers and Staff.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Our roaming tech volunteers provide one-to-one support to people with sight loss, visiting them in their own homes to help them get the most out of technology. They may help customers set up a new device, learn new features or trouble shoot tech problems. Roaming tech volunteers support people local to them.
We particularly require volunteers who are based in Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire.