Empowering social inclusion of persons with disabilities through student volunteerism: An event-based study in Malaysia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55573/JISED.118749Keywords:
Disability, social inclusion, volunteerAbstract
The persons with disabilities (PWD) community in Malaysia faces various challenges, including issues regarding access to education, employment, and facilities. From a social perspective, they continue to encounter discrimination and social stigma. Studies among university students with disabilities reveal that the challenges they face include non-conducive facilities and negative attitudes exhibited by those around them. University students should be encouraged to engage more with the PWD in order to increase their empathy and understanding of PWD peers and community at large. The act of volunteering for the PWD community brings them new knowledge and experience that may help empower the social inclusion of the PWD, thus bridging the barriers of inequality. Using an exploratory, event-based quantitative survey design with 56 student facilitators, this pilot study investigates university students’ experience in volunteering with the PWD community. Findings indicated that while students are experienced as volunteers, majority of them never had the experience of volunteering for the PWD. The study also found three main motivation for their involvement with PWD which are the desire to help and support a vulnerable community, followed by gaining experience for career or future employment and wanting to build empathy, understanding and soft skills. The challenges in involving with PWD were also analysed in which three main challenges were identified namely fear of doing something wrong, lack of knowledge and lack of confidence. Evidence showed an increase in confidence to engage with PWD after the experience of volunteering for them, signifying the importance of creating interaction with the PWD community to empower their social inclusion.
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