Volunteer Tips for Working with Students with Disabilities
Volunteer Tips
Some adult students with physical disabilities are considered vulnerable adults and are protected under Vulnerable Adult Act for the State of Minnesota. These are people who are 18 years or older and who either live in a licensed facility, receive services from a licensed facility, are in family settings and because of impaired physical, mental function, or emotional status, would not by themselves report abuse or neglect of themselves. Here are some things to remember when dealing with vulnerable adults.
- Your relationship with a student must remain a friendly professional relationship, not a friendship—Interactions need to be focused on the individual’s academic goals.
- Remember professional volunteer boundaries: keep the student’s dignity, safety, and rights at the forefront of your interactions. Know your own boundaries and respect those of the student as an adult learner.
- Use discretion when sharing information about yourself—Don’t share contact information.
- Remember all student information is confidential.
- Do not intimately touch a student. Hugging or excessive patting on the shoulder, hand, leg could be misinterpreted.
- Do not return any sexual advance.
- Do not accept invitations when outside the scope of your volunteer work.
- Don’t accept gifts from the student.
- Do not borrow from or lend money to a student
- Always inform you supervisor if a student tells you about a serious personal concern.
- Never transport a student in your personal vehicle.
In Addition.....
Be yourself. Treat a person with a disability as you would anyone else you meet.
Ask to help. Then wait to see if the person wants it. Never start to push a wheelchair without asking the person first.
Talk directly to the person with a disability. Do not pose questions to the friend, family member, or interpreter that is with him or her.
Ask for repetition. If a person has a speech problem and is hard to understand, ask him or her to repeat what they said. If you still do not understand, ask another person to help or use alternate methods such as writing or using gestures. It is important not to make any assumptions.
Put the person first. Then the disability. Say or write “person with a disability” rather than “disabled person.”
Speak clearly and slowly to a person who is deaf or hard of hearing if an interpreter is not present. Do not shout or overdo the movement of your mouth. Consider using a notepad.
Do not pet “service” dogs. The dog is working at that time so he cannot be distracted.
Do not talk loudly to a person who is blind or has a physical disability. Just because he/she cannot see or walk doesn’t mean that he/she cannot hear.
Be patient with the extra time a person with a disability may need to do or say things
See the whole person. Remember that a person with a disability has many interests other than the disability. They are people like everyone else – they just happen to have a disability.
Taken from the Courage Center Volunteer and Intern Handbook www.couragecenter.org
The Disability Awareness section includes additional tips on working with a student or interacting with an individual with a disability.