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- So I am here today on another exciting worldwide Skype link up.
Today we are chatting to Sarah Levis. Thank you for joining us from Canada, Sarah.
- Thanks for having me.
- Would you like to give the guys watching an intro to you, your disability
and anything else you think they might like to hear about.
- Like you said I live in Canada, when I was 22 I had a stroke which left my left-side almost paralysed.
It took a lot of physiotherapy and a lot of work and I am back to where I can walk with a cane outdoors
and walk unassisted when I’m indoors but I don’t have much function in my left hand.
Which makes life kind of interesting.
- Is it right your Twitter handle is girl with a cane
- Whats that?
- Is it Twitter handle girl with a cane?
- Girl with the cane yea
- So if anyone wants to follow you on Twitter they can check that out,
I just wanted to say what a cool Twitter handle that is.
- Thanks (laughs) that’s what I blog under too.
- Ok what I’ll do is share your Twitter and blog links on the resources section
so people can come and check all of that out afterwards.
- Ok
- We are here to talk about volunteering today so it would be helpful for me
and the guys watching the videos if you could just have a chat about what got you into volunteering
and the benefits as a result really.
- I have been volunteering a long time. I was originally volunteering in my teens long before the stroke started.
When I had the stroke and wasn’t able to work even part-time, it was something I was able to do
and ease my way back into the workforce. Having lost the job I did have back in July
I have got back into as a way to keep busy and keep my skills up
and have something on the resume during the time I was looking for.
- So what area of volunteering are you in at the moment?
- Pardon?
- What's the sort of role of volunteering are you in at the moment?
- Right now I am working for the Arts Council.
The county that I am living in dealing with office administrative work,
freeing the other person in the office up to do grant writing and the bigger picture stuff that she needs to do.
Ok cool. So partly you did volunteering as a generally enjoyable thing and a way to put back into society as well.
Obviously it keeps you busy, keeps the brain ticking and keeps your skills up as well.
So is this a plan and a platform onto employment?
- Yes. I am hoping a job comes from this. Even if it doesn’t its good to put on the resume
and even when I was a little less mobile, and less able to go in and work for a long period of time.
It was a good way to work out as a person with a disability what my limits were
and what my support needs were while I was going to be out on a job.
And to show people that as a person with a disability I was able to do a job.
- To signal
- To be out there and even though I was walking with a cane and able to use only one hand
that I could do these things and contribute in this way.
That I was worth having around as an employee.
Brilliant. Well I am sure that your story has a) shown people that volunteering itself
is very helpful and very possible. I think that’s going to resonate with a lot of people that like you said
just because you have a disability doesn’t mean that you cant get out there and contribute to the economy and society.
It’s a very well put story to be honest there Sarah.
Before we wrap up is there any one thing that you would say to anyone looking to get in to volunteering.
Broadly how they should go about finding the right role for them.
- I would figure out what it is, if they want to get back into the workforce
then figure out what it is that they would like to eventually do.
See if they can find a volunteering role that will eventually help them get there.
If you want to get into the school system and work with children in some capacity,
one of the roles I did was to be a reading tutor.
- Ok
- And I worked a couple of hours at the library at the elementary school helping the librarians shelve books.
Which isn’t all that exciting, but it was being around kids
and listening to the librarian read stories to the kids which is a lot of fun.
- I guess that is another thing to be able to have fun with the volunteering as well.
- For sure. Find something that you enjoy (laughs).
- Well thank you for sharing your story Sarah and best of luck for the volunteering and the job hunt in the future.
If anyone wants to come and check out your blog it’ll be on the resources section of the course.
Thank you for your time today
- Thank you