A Dedicated Volunteer
Margo Hodge - the new ambassador for volunteering in the ACT
Nominated in the Community category by People With Disabilities ACT
Ms Hodge, a paraplegic since a car accident in 1974, has been volunteering for over twenty years. Ms Hodge has dedicated her volunteering effort to working towards changes in the community to make it more inclusive and accessible for all other people with disabilities in the ACT.
Her volunteering roles have included:
- volunteeer co-ordinator/teacher at the ANU International Education Office’s English classes for overseas students, researchers, visiting fellows and their families.
- Member of the accessible Public Transport National Advisory
- Australian Competition and Consumer Council as the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations’ representative on the Consultative Council
- ACT Accessible Transport Access Plan Advisory Group
- Member of the ACT Guardianship and Management Tribunal
- President of systemic advocacy organisation People With Disabilities ACT.
Margo is helping to increase the independence and quality of life of people by working to improve the flawed and inadequate public transport system which includes buses, wheelchair accessible taxis, trains and aircraft. Without accessible public transport many people with disabilities would be confined to their homes and dependent on the charity of relatives.
She uses her strong leadership skills to identify the problems and to come up with possible solutions. She doesn’t just complain about the problems but looks for ways to improve the situation.
Margo is a retired senior but still spends around 30 hours a week as a volunteer.
She has a positive attitude to adversity and an insightful way of approaching difficult problems that government has failed to fix.
Without Margo Canberra would be a more difficult place to live for people with disabilities.
Margo doesn’t see her disability as an obstacle, rather as a source of expertise to be used to help other people with disabilities.