Become a volunteerBreaking barriers of inclusion… Why is this important to me?
Hi everyone, I’m Rebecca. When looking at the voice and action section of the inspire programme, I immediately knew what I wanted to work on – breaking down barriers of inclusion. A few years ago, my life changed forever and I developed multiple chronic illnesses that left me disabled. While many areas of my life changed, there was no question around me wanting to continue volunteering with Girlguiding.
Undoubtedly, there were barriers to overcome to be able to volunteer. My conditions have meant that I needed to switch sections for an earlier finish time. I started needing to use a wheelchair so there have been physical access issues along the way. A lot of people think inclusion stops at having wheelchair access to a building, however this is far from true.
Girlguiding defines inclusion as giving all girls/ volunteers the same chance. Guiding has been my safe space throughout all this change and I use my experiences to inform how I create an inclusive culture at Rainbows. I think that one of the most important things we have done is giving the girls the opportunity to ask as many questions as they like! We have discussed wheelchairs and chronic illnesses alongside first aid. One of our rainbows was very proud to show off her PEG tube and explained how it helps her to grow big and strong. We have also received inclusion funding from Girlguiding to help create a collection of stim toys for our several neurodiverse girls.
My health conditions have a serious impact on what I can do in life on a day to day basis but I make sure that I always have a “can do” attitude when it comes to rainbows. We have been on many trips that wouldn’t necessarily seem first possible from trips to the farm, bowling and are soon going to be trying ice skating.
Alongside creating an inclusive culture, we have fundraised for local charities that are important to our unit. In 2022 these were Smile for ME, Nottingham children’s hospital and Framework. Our Rainbows learnt about these charities as part of their Take Action Skills builder and then set themselves a personal challenge to fundraise. We had girls doing sponsored walks, bike rides, reading challenges and much more! The girls also made posters to show what each of the charities did.
So what’s next? Personally, I am hoping to find a way so that I can manage to go camping again as this is something I miss hugely. At a unit level, I want to support our current girls to try as many new things as possible and have as much fun as possible doing it and then on a higher level, I would like to continue raising awareness of accessibility issues and promoting an inclusive culture.
Inclusion is such an important issue that many people face on a day to day basis and being included can change a person’s world. If you want to get involved with improving inclusion in your area, please contact your local inclusion county team.
