Working With Disabilities

Thinking about volunteering in Guatemala with disabilities?

If so, you've found the right place! I have spent the last month volunteering through the Antigua Guatemala program at an orphanage for children with disabilities. If you are thinking about volunteering with children who have disabilities, know that your experience will be challenging and rewarding at the same time.

My daily activities mainly involved doing Physical Therapy exercises for the children at my orphanage as well as helping the nannies with other small tasks.

Initially, I was extremely overwhelmed by the thought of being responsible for therapy sessions with the kids and it took me a week or two to gain confidence in what I was doing. However, I found that the most helpful opportunity was to be able to attend one of the Physical Therapy appointments for the children so that I could see what their therapists were doing with each child and then perform those exercises on a day-to-day basis at the orphanage. I would strongly recommend that anyone volunteering to do therapy with disabled children asks the nannies of the orphanage to arrange this.

If your Spanish is limited, I would strongly recommend learning simple commands like "take off your shoes please", "sit down", "stand up", "be gentle", "come here", and "no more" in Spanish. Even if the kids you are working with are non-verbal, they understand Spanish and will listen to you. It is also very important to know basic body parts (arms, legs, stomach, back, feet, hands) and to know how to ask "does this hurt" or "does this cause you pain?".

It is also extremely helpful to bring a stopwatch (one on your cell phone will suffice) to help time how long each child can weight-bear or hold a position on their own. Some kids are extremely motivated simply by knowing how long they have been standing, stretching etc. and will try to beat their own goals.

One of the biggest highlights of my experience was forming relationships with the children at my orphanage. Even though only one child at my orphanage had a vocabulary that was larger than 2 or 3 words, it was so rewarding when the children began to recognize me and smile at me. These simple relationships taught me the beauty of communication without words.

One of the biggest difficulties for me was simply not being able to communicate with the children's caretakers and not knowing what each child's diagnosis was. I was able to work towards resolving these problems by learning Spanish while in Guatemala and by asking the nannies at the specific orphanage what their diagnoses were. Doing research on how to best work with a child with Downs Syndrome, versus a child with Autism, versus a child with Cerebral Palsy was extremely beneficial as well.

Last but not least, dont be afraid to ask for help. If your placement's staff sees that you are a hard worker and are taking initiative, they will trust you more and be more willing to help you.