In only two weeks...

I wanted to tell you all about my experience volunteering at a playscheme over the summer

There are so many misconceptions of those with disabilities. There seems to be this slight fear of the people who are infact some of the most inspiring and strong human beings on this planet.
I have to admit, when I first signed up to do two weeks of volunteer work at a playscheme I was terrified. I'm not exactly brilliant at meeting new people and for me this was an entirely unknown experience. I'm so thankful however that I took the plunge and posted off the application form because even in that short space of time my view on life has changed completely.
The scheme i signed up for was a place that provided rest bite care for children aged four to nineteen with all types of disabilities. It was run entirely by volunteers on money raised in charity events during the year. You were given a child to look after for the day along with a small sheet of basic information and sent off to make sure that they had the most fun possible. The beautiful thing about it, I think, was the fact you weren't told the child's disability and got to know them entirely for the person they truly were.

I met so many amazing people in those two weeks. One boy, named Thomas almost brought me to tears with the way he found so much happiness in the simplest things. If you held his hands he would clap yours together and look into your eyes grinning. He would sit in the sand pit constantly trying to drink the contents and consequently ended up absolutley covered and very pleased with himself. This boy, couldn't speak, had trouble walking, was on a huge amount of medication yet was so content with life in a way I had never before seen in a fourteen year old. Honestly, everybody he met couldn't help but smile when they watched him.

One moment that particularly stuck in my head from those weeks was when I was looking after a girl called Brittany. She was extremely nervous around crowds of people and panicked if there was too much noise in the area. That day there were owls being shown in the hall and she told me she wanted to go and see them. We reached the doors to go in and she refused to go through as the area was pretty crowded. I walked her away and asked if she wanted to try again, which she said yes to. It took a few attemps to get her in but it was certainly worth it. A man from the owlery bought over a large bird and told Brittany she could stroke it. She was ever so gentle with it and beamed at the softeness of the feathers, which for her is a rarity. I don't think I fully appreciated this moment though until her mum commented on a picture of it on Facebook saying how much she loved the photo because Brittany's autism usually stops her from being able to do things like that.

Another thing I really gained from my time there was a true respect for the parents and carers who look after the children full time. Although the days were amazing they were certainly tiring. You didn't get a moments rest and if I was doing it daily I know I would be absolutely exhausted. Despite this, I'm definately going back next year and would recommend it to everybody. I have so many great memories and can't remember the last time I laughed so much: especially when Hannah decided to spit her lunch from one end of the bus to the other (and honestly I've never seen a small child with quite so much luggage...fairy lights...blanket...bag...another bag....the list goes on), I had tears streaming down my face for about half an hour. Oh, and who could forget the time she screeched out 'the wheels on the bus', so loud she would of broken a decibel meter, not even noticing as Christopher yelled "shut up!!" For about half an hour. To put it simply, playscheme was the thing that finally put a true smile on my face.