Volunteer Case Studies
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John's story - Helpline volunteer
Helpline volunteer John
I retired in 2012 and suddenly found that I had a lot of extra time on my hands and was looking around for things to do. I had my movie making and Sunday night bridge but I thought it might be an idea to do some volunteering somewhere...
A friend of mine was volunteering at the Citizen’s Advice Bureau and I thought that might be a possibility; then I saw a small postcard pinned to the notice board outside my local pub asking for volunteers to work on the Helpline at the British Dyslexia Association. One morning a week for 3 hours didn’t seem too onerous. The only thing was I didn’t know anything about dyslexia. Or I thought I didn’t, but then I had been living with a (undiagnosed) dyslexic wife for 30 years so I thought I may be able to contribute something.
So I rang the number on the card and a few days later was interviewed by Sue Flohr, and surprise, surprise she seemed delighted to have me on board. It was difficult to start with and a very steep learning curve, but with help from the Helpline staff and doing a lot of reading I was pretty soon able to converse intelligently with the Helpline callers.
Well that was 9 years ago, and I’ve been here on and off ever since.
We take calls from a wide variety of different people the most common probably being from parents of primary school children. In my experience the question we are asked most often is from parents who say “I think my child is dyslexic. The school won’t do anything about it, where can I get an assessment?”
I am able to point them in the right direction as the British Dyslexia Association carries out diagnostic assessments. But I always have to warn parents that the school is not legally obliged to implement any recommendations that may appear in a diagnostic assessment report.
We also get a lot of calls from parents of older children who are on course for taking their GCSEs or A Levels and advise them on the process for access arrangements like extra time in exams.
We take a lot of calls from adults who are experiencing problems in the workplace because of their dyslexia. Sometimes they are facing disciplinary proceedings, sometimes they are finding it difficult to cope and are victims of bullying. Although we are not able to offer legal advice, we do point out the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 which requires the employer to put in place ‘reasonable adjustments’ to help employees with disabilities.
Some calls are difficult; the individual may be frustrated with the system and need to sound off. And we do get some heartbreaking calls as well, from people who feel excluded from society because of their disability.
So, it’s been an interesting 9 years. I’ve spoken to a lot of people and answered a lot of emails. Some are appreciative of what we do and they do express their gratitude. I feel that I am doing something worthwhile and I now understand my wife a lot better.