Harnessing the power of neuroinclusion to enhance our volunteer programmes

Inclusivity isn’t just a term that’s trending, but rather the fundamental pillar that upholds effective and enduring volunteer initiatives. While diversity and representation are rightfully emphasised in volunteer programmes, the often neglected realm of neuroinclusivity plays a crucial role in creating truly welcoming and impactful opportunities.

Neuroinclusion is the practice of actively including individuals with neurological differences and creating safe spaces for people, regardless of their neurodiversity.

Breaking barriers to volunteer

With recruitment a key challenge for most volunteering programmes, creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for people who are neurodiverse could really help find more people to support your cause.

Individuals with Autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurological conditions may find it daunting to step into a social environment and contribute to a cause. Despite their passion for the event or cause, the barrier to volunteering could lie in your programme’s ability to acknowledge their condition and provide the necessary support.

Understanding neurodiversity

We spoke with Georgina Shute, a neuroinclusivity coach, campaigner and trustee for a charity about what you can do to not only accommodate people with neurological diversity but also benefit from an improved ability to recruit from these people.

An introduction to two terms:

Neuro diversity – This is an umbrella term that encompasses a range of conditions.

Neuro inclusion – This is the process of creating environments that celebrate neurodiversity.

The importance of neuro inclusion for Gen-Z volunteers

Above all else Gen-Z values authenticity, inclusivity and social responsibility. By aligning your volunteer programme to these values it demonstrates a clear commitment to inclusivity and can significantly boost engagement with Gen-Z volunteers,

5 action strategies to engage Gen-Z through neuroinclusivity

1. Educate and raise awareness

Provide your general volunteers and volunteer coordinating team with training and resources to increase their understanding of neurodiversity and best practices for accommodating individuals with diverse neurological profiles.

2. Adapt communication strategies

Foster an environment that embraces flexibility and adapts volunteer activities to neurodiverse participants. This may include providing sensory-friendly spaces and clear communication.

3. Offer diverse roles

Ensuring you can offer people with neurological differences a range of roles will help attract new volunteers to your programme. While it’s not always possible to create a set of volunteer roles for specific neurological needs, consider the roles you do have and whether they are suitable for people with a varied neurological profile.

4. Build a supportive community

Lead by example and demonstrate leadership across your programme by actively advocating for the participation of people with neurological diversity. By championing diversity and inclusion it will spread across your organisation.

5. Feedback and continuous improvement

Gather survey data and feedback from your current volunteers. Discover the neurological diversity within your existing programme and find out from your volunteers themselves how you could make your programme more welcoming and inclusive to people with neurological differences.

Conclusion

Neuroinclusion is not just a moral imperative, but could create a strategic advantage for your volunteer programme. Maximise the impact of your cause or event by attracting a range of people to support it.

Those volunteers may require certain considerations to be made for them in order for them to feel comfortable, that could include reviewing your communication methods, the range of roles you have to offer and how you market your programme to new volunteers.

About Rosterfy

Rosterfy exists to connect communities to events and causes they are passionate about through volunteer and paid workforce management technology.

Our proven end to end technology allows charities, events and nonprofit organisations to recruit, register, screen, train, manage and report with ease, replacing manual processes with automations to better engage and retain your volunteers and paid staff.