Volunteering is a common way for senior Victorians to keep in touch with, and give back to, their community. Senior people have a lifetime of skills and experience to give back to a community or an organisation. These knowledge and skills can help organisations in a unique and valuable way. To enable an effective and thriving volunteering sector in Victoria, organisations should work towards being aged-friendly and make the best use of the strengths senior Victorians contribute to the volunteer workforce. However, with older age comes numerous factors that need to be considered. It will help organisations recruiting senior people in a volunteering capacity to understand how to manage disabilities that come with older age.
50% of men and 52% of women aged 65 and over had some form of disability (Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, 2015). This proportion was higher for those aged 85 and over, with 4 in 5 experiencing disability (78% of men and 80% of women). Australians over 55 years of age volunteer for approximately 290 million hours each year (Volunteering Victoria, 2011). The 2016 Census reported that approximately 20% of senior Australians, that is 668,000 people volunteered within the last year (AIHW, 2018). This guide will assist organisations recruiting senior people with disability as volunteers to better understand the benefits, challenges and processes to follow so that the relationship can be as mutually beneficial as possible.
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