Working as an intern at Scope

You finish university for summer, all assignments are handed in and you feel free. You may have holiday’s planned, a list of exciting adventures and can’t wait to catch up with friends you haven’t seen in a long time. I very fortunately can say I did all of that over summer, I also embarked on a 3- month internship at Scope. 

Finding employment when you have a disability can be incredibly difficult. Aside from employers being less inclined to hire us in the first place, we need to find something that we would be able to do. I know there are jobs out there that I would be very capable at, but finding something part- time alongside studies has always been a challenge. In all fairness, I have never gone out of my way to find a job when I have been at university. My studies, writing a blog and various other commitments keep me busy enough! However, many of my friends who have jobs while at university all have similar roles: bar work, cafe’s and retail. As much as I would love to help someone enjoy a lovely cup of coffee, the drink would never make it to their table in one piece! This all changed when Scope came along.

For those of you who don’t know, Scope is the leading pan- disability charity for England and Wales. They provide advice, campaign for change and strive towards everyday equality. I am no stranger to their work and have been involved one way or another for the past 4 years. During this time I have had the chance to write articles, take part in interviews and deliver the Role Model scheme to high schools around the country. It is safe to say, I love the organisation and everything they stand for.

I vividly remember finding the role ‘Online Community Intern’ on the Scope website. I had heard of this role before and knew it would something I’d enjoy. After reading the job description I was convinced someone had created my perfect job. The role was working from home, part- time and wanted knowledge on disability. I feel like I could manage those three things! I could not believe a role so perfect existed, I instantly downloaded the application form and filled it in. I couldn’t help but get excited at the prospect of getting the role, although I thought it was highly unlikely I would actually get it!

 So what did I get up to as the online community intern?

Most of the work revolves around the online community. This magical place on the internet is a online forum for disabled people and parents/carers to ask questions and for others to share their pearls of wisdom; supporting everyone through hard times and cheering them on through the good. The community is just that- a community. As someone who was relatively new to the whole thing I was welcomed aboard and enjoyed being able to welcome others. If you have a disability related query then you will probably find the answer on the community. I enjoyed being able to put my own experiences to good use and pass advice on to others. It also was extremely insightful to not know the answer to a question but then go off and research it- coming back to the person with some kind of solution. I learnt so much over the 3 months, just by reading what others had to say. Reading so many incredible stories of about the journeys of others and how helpful everyone was in sharing their experiences with others. Having a disability can be daunting at times and community just means people don’t need to go through it alone.

Not long after I started my role I had the chance to go down to the Scope office in London. Despite my role being home- based I loved the chance to meet people in person and to see the office. It is relatively new and is very fancy indeed! It’s all purple and yellow which are my two favourite colours and makes the whole thing even better! Due to working with various other teams over the years it was also a chance to meet so many people face to face who I had previously only corresponded via email. Everyone was just so friendly and I felt extremely welcomed. When I am working from home we all communicate very regularly and have Skype meetings which means you constantly know what is going on and never feel at a disadvantage because you aren’t at the office.

 Another part of the role was finding and working with bloggers. I have previously written a blog for the Scope online community so know that side of the process, yet equally enjoyed being on the other side. I am in my element when writing a blog post but also love reading blogs. The community posts two blogs a week and has topics that run for two weeks at a time. While I was there we covered disabled parenting, leisure and hobbies, education and schooling, sexual health, LGBTQ+ and employment. I throughly enjoyed being able to work with various people and to create content for the online community. At first I did find it hard to edit the blogs that came through, not because they were hard to read, far from it, but because I know what it is like from a writers perspective. I’m used to having my work edited so I didn’t want to alter their hard work. However, once I got used to this I loved it. People all have different perspectives and stories to tell and being part of that was really special.

Other jobs included things like writing newsletters and doing more admin based tasks. I loved using Mailchimp to make the newsletters and it was just a great way to showcase the blogs that had gone up that month. I also have started using Mailchimp myself for this blog and feel it was really valuable skill to pick up. Similarly, creating stats from the online community was just as interesting. Being able to see how much people engaged with the platform just shows the power of the forum and how much it is helping people.

Also, during my internship there were some exciting changes going on for Scope. They had the launch of their new brand which is very fancy indeed and this included a new website to go with it all. The new tag line is ‘Scope = equality for disabled people’ which I think really does sum up the work that they do. There also was a new campaign launched during the summer that I absolutely love! It is called the Disability Gamechanger and came about after new research showed the barriers that disabled people still face today. With the main focus on attitudes, work, care and support, public transport and digital technology they want disabled people to live the life they choose. The video about this campaign is one of the most motivating things I have seen in a long time and I would highly recommend you go and check it out!

 I feel like the luckiest person alive to have experiences this role and it really was such an amazing experience. I cannot speak more highly of Scope as an organisation and of the team that I got a chance to work with. Everyone in my team was so so lovely and I miss them all! Wednesday afternoons just aren’t the same without the Skype catch up. To find a job that I absolutely love and works around my disability seemed like a hard task- this internship achieved just that. It combined my passion of disability, blog writing and people into one role and made it a summer to remember!

 ~Chloe x