In our world, we have people who live with disabilities and those who live without them. We all make up and share the same world together. It is a world that is meant to be shared, accessed, and care for by all intentionally and kindly. Due to historic norms, customs, and beliefs about people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities, the community has not always enjoyed the same freedoms and rights as other people. Many of us have historically had to live lives in institutions, not always receive free and fair educations, have proper access to medical and social services, have proper representation in any form of government, having the opportunity to live independently in any way, or have the opportunity to live free and just lives as anyone would see fit.
For organizations like Best Buddies, that world can slowly become a thing of the past. It is through Best Buddies and similar organizations that we are working together to end the isolation and exclusion of people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities in everyday society. This is always done through teamwork, leadership, preparedness, kindness, compassion, togetherness, community, awareness, understanding, persistence, determination, and helpfulness for everyone. Best Buddies is an example of how anyone can be accepting, welcoming, and equitable for people of all abilities in every way possible. This is primarily in the form of friendship and community. Through friendships built between people with disabilities and people without, we can continually advance the conversation about what inclusion and acceptance truly are and how it can be modeled for everyone. At the same time, we can also model how people with disabilities would want the world to be viewed and what a beloved or caring community can actually be when we all come together to the same table.
Part of Best Buddies model is providing inclusion for all pillars of society. These include employment, living, friendships, leadership, and family support. You can find these pillars working concurrently with any area of one’s life. These include Elementary, Middle, and High School, College, competitive employment, living independently, friendship in your adult life, leadership for both Best Buddies and beyond, and support for families of Best Buddies Participants. It is the programs that the language of acceptance, equity, and autonomy for all abilities is spoken at maximum volume from all sides of the triangle. The programs represent each pillar of society that one could think of in their daily lives. They speak to what would be considered to be a part of anyone’s life throughout it.
A key program in Best Buddies is the Best Buddies Jobs Program. It is a program like many others that is geared towards providing people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities the opportunity to find and keep competitive employment. This is done through continual and persistent integration with companies and organizations around both the United States and the World. At the same time, this is also done through employing people with disabilities at organizations that are not necessarily partners with Best Buddies. Employment Consultants or Job Coaches work for any State or National Branch of Best Buddies to ensure that participants have the opportunity to be employed in any job or career of their interest. The program has been around for a long time and has helped many people with disabilities find and keep jobs in many different career sectors. Employment Consultants play a key role in helping participants prepare for and have job interviews, get hired for any job, get onboarded and acclimated within their newly hired position, and to ensure success and stability in their employment thereafter. As Best Buddies International’s Website has intentionally listed: “ With the support of a Best Buddies Employment Consultant, employers will have access to an un-tapped workforce to meet the needs of your business. Best Buddies Jobs candidates bring a range of skills, abilities and qualifications to the workplace. Many businesses already employ workers with disabilities because it makes good business sense.
Programs like Best Buddies can only help many people with disabilities get and keep employment in any job or career of their interest. Someone’s experience in Best Buddies Jobs can be different for everyone. At the end of the day, the most important thing to remember is that anyone can work when we all set our mind to it both for each other and for ourselves.
Another key pillar of Best Buddies is the Living Program. The program was first launched in 2019. Its mission is to end the exclusion of people with disabilities not having the opportunity to live independently by any means. It provides an example of a program that seeks to significantly move away from the historic model of institutionalization. The program is offered in many different parts of America including in Washington DC. Many apartments in many different American Cities offer Best Buddies Living as an option for potential participants. The apartments are almost always located right next or near Universities in different parts of America. The program is generally designed to be a bridge between moving out of your Parents house and into living fully independently. For Living Participants, they always have opportunities to engage in fun social and leisure activities while simultaneously building friendships and modeling community. At the same time, participants will also work with a Residential Manager to develop action plans for developing different independent living skills for living fully independently. As Best Buddies International points out: “Campus Life – Best Buddies Living locations are near school campuses – offering an environment that encourages the development of independent living skills, life-changing relationships, and educational pursuits in connection with college life.
Housing – Residences will vary based on the location. Some will be single-family homes, while others may be co-living units or apartments.
Residents – The Living program is open to individuals over the age of 18 who are ready to embrace independent living. Residents are asked to participate in weekly group meals and activities, maintain employment or attend a higher education program, and support fellow residents when needed.
Campus Immersion – Residents attend college games and participate in fitness classes, cultural events, holiday parties, volunteer opportunities, and sports activities alongside their student peers.
Support Team – Inclusive Living locations have Best Buddies team members onsite to support residents and ensure an inclusive environment.
Application – Individuals interested in enrolling in the program must submit an application, provide letters of recommendation, and a list of references. To apply, click here.
When people come together to provide support for people with disabilities to live independently, everyone can benefit and flourish for both each other and for themselves. Living independently is a life opportunity that anyone should have. It is part of our collective and individual autonomy and livelihood that spells out our human character. The more we can ensure inclusive living opportunities for all, the better society will be in the long run.
A huge component of Best Buddies Programming is the Ambassadors Program. It is a leadership and self-advocacy programming that is offered through Best Buddies in all Fifty U.S. States and in many countries around the world. The program is designed to prepare people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities to become leaders and inclusion and acceptance for the disability community in general. This includes attending Ambassador Training, series of leadership classes, being an Ambassador at the State or Global Level, attending key Best Buddies Events, and giving important speeches or speaking engagements on both inclusion and one’s individual journey through Best Buddies. The Ambassadors Program is primarily offered through State and Global Chapters both here in America and in other parts of the world. Participants in the program always work with speech coaches to help prepare any speeches for any important speaking engagements and events involving Best Buddies that they will be part of. At the same time, participants will always work with other Best Buddies Staff to continually train and enhance their leadership skills for both Best Buddies and other areas of life.
As Best Buddies International has carefully listed:
Advocacy Training
When a Best Buddies participant joins the Ambassador program, they enter into a series of group and private training in speech writing and public and conversational speaking to become advocates for themselves and the disability rights movement.
Public Speaking
Once trained, Ambassadors work with Best Buddies staff to identify public speaking opportunities in their local community, where they can share their personal stories with Best Buddies chapters, businesses, legislators, interest groups and donors.
Speech Coaches
Each Ambassador is paired with a speech coach, who helps them brainstorm, organize, write, edit and practice a speech and provides one-on-one attention as needed.
The art of leadership is always make yourself available and open to all opportunities and events to have a say in what other people want from anything that is important to them. That includes both disability self-advocacy and rights. Organizations like Best Buddies work to advance those causes at all levels with both people with disabilities and people without them. This can always include anyone in our everyday world who may seek to make a change in how it is run for everybody.
The most important pillar or section of any Best Buddies Programming is its friendship programs. These programs are offered at several different levels. They include Elementary School, Middle School, High School, College, and Adult Life. The Best Buddies Friendship Programs always come in the form of school chapters and its Citizens Program, providing people with disabilities with the opportunity to meet people without ones to form social friendships and relationships at all stages of their lives. People with disabilities are always matched in one-to-one friendships in any of these programs. For school chapters, matched friendships typically involve participants and peer buddies attending Best Buddies events both at school and out in the community. These can include parties honoring holidays, special occasions, cultural observances, and attending key community events. Some of these community events include the Best Buddies Friendship Walk and the Homecoming Gala. Each state chapter has it own version of both events and are open to Best Buddies Participants, peer buddies, staff members, volunteers, and community supporters. For participants in the Citizens Program, friendships can look like any that anyone would want to have. These would always include doing fun activities and going to places in the community that both parties would enjoy going to. At the same time, Citizens Friendship pairs are always welcome to attend Best Buddies Citizens Social Activities where different people from the program can attend together. As Best Buddies International has made sure to include below: “Best Buddies Friendship programs represent one of our organization’s five key mission pillars. These programs build one-to-one friendships between people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), offering social interactions while improving the quality of life and level of inclusion for a population that is often isolated and excluded. Through their participation, people with IDD form meaningful connections with their peers, gain self-confidence and self-esteem, and share interests, experiences and activities that many other individuals enjoy.
BESTBUDDIES® Elementary Schools
Builds connections and community between young students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) through inclusive activities and social-emotional learning tools that promote one-to-one friendship, acceptance, and interaction at an early age.
BESTBUDDIES® Middle Schools
Fosters one-to-one friendships between middle school students with and without IDD, in which they share interests, experiences, and activities. Students with IDD are often isolated and left out of social activities. Best Buddies Middle Schools helps to create an inclusive middle school culture for all students early on in their educational development.
BESTBUDDIES® High Schools
Fosters one-to-one friendships between high school students with and without IDD. In this time of heightened social and emotional development that can be difficult even for teenagers without IDD, the Best Buddies High Schools program helps break through social barriers at an important time in a young person’s life.
BESTBUDDIES® Colleges
Fosters one-to-one friendships between college students without IDD and their peers on campus or in the community with IDD. Young adults with IDD historically have been isolated at home or in work environments. The Best Buddies Colleges program is changing this by providing the opportunity for people with IDD to be involved in their local campus and community life.
BESTBUDDIES® Citizens
Supports the development of friendships between adults with and without IDD in corporate and civic communities. Many people with IDD have limited opportunities for social interactions after they leave the school environment. This program helps people with IDD become part of mainstream society and creates an inclusive and diverse community for all.
e-Buddies®
Provides a safe place online to develop one-to-one friendships between people with and without IDD. By joining e-Buddies, participants become more comfortable using technology to communicate with friends, gain computer literacy skills, and are better equipped to socialize online in the future.
BESTBUDDIES® Travel
Brings people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) together to explore the world while building independence, confidence, and lifelong friendships. Participants engage in life skills and travel-readiness training prior to departure, receive ongoing staff support while traveling, and reflect on their experience afterward, ensuring growth that lasts well beyond the trip itself. Trips are intentionally designed for small groups and include participants with and without IDD, creating a supportive, inclusive environment where everyone belongs.”
The art of friendship is finding belonging, understanding, and a network of support among other people in your community. This always include traveling into the world with kindness, understanding, and an open mind for meeting anyone that you may enjoy getting to know. For people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities, it is a part of life that is always desired and meant to be kept forever.
A new and emerging pillar in Best Buddies Programming is the Best Buddies Transitions Program. The program first launched in 2020, as Best Buddies eleventh core program. It is always offered in high schools to help students prepare for life after it. The program mainly involves class sessions that are taught at different schools that help students develop different employment, independent living, and life skills. These include knowing what resources people can use to find the right education or to figure out what career best suits them long-term. It is continuing to expand to new areas as it becomes more widely known.
Best Buddies International was first founded in 1989 by Anthony Shriver. The person is a relative of the famous Kennedy and Shriver Families respectively. Anthony Shriver founded the program to help end the exclusion and isolation of people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities in society. This mainly includes people with either intellectual or developmental disabilities. Anthony Shriver had been inspired to found Best Buddies through the advocacy of his mother Maria Shriver who had been instrumental in founding Special Olympics in 1965. Since it was founded, Best Buddies has expanded to include pillars centered on Friendships, Employment, Leadership, Living, Family Support, School Transition, Travel, and most recently Entrepreneurship. It has also expanded to include multiple community and organization events including its series of Friendship Walks held every Spring, its annual Leadership Conference, and its series of Homecoming Galas held every Fall. The Friendship Programs that are offered through Best Buddies can be found either in school or through its Citizens Program for adults with disabilities or naturally differing abilities. The new and emerging Travel Program is all part of the Friendship Circle in Best Buddies. It allows participants the opportunity to travel together to get to know each other while exploring new places in the world. Through regular fundraising and donations from many people, Best Buddies Programming has grown exponentially and continues to grow in places it has not previously been offered in. The fundraising and donations for Best Buddies are always primarily raised during its annual Friendship Walks and Homecoming Galas primarily held in the United States.
At present, I identify as being a participant in Best Buddies programming. I am currently involved in the Best Buddies Jobs, Citizens, and Ambassadors Programs. I first joined Best Buddies in May of 2024 in the Jobs Program for the VA & DC Delegation. Since then, I have moved through their so-called job development phase and have gotten employed at a Best Buddies Jobs National Employer Partner. It happens to be a law firm called Holland & Knight. Best Buddies is currently partnered with many different companies, organizations, and associations that provide people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities the opportunity to be employed in any job that matches their career strengths and interests. I have worked with several employment consultants whom have guided me through the different phases of the jobs program. While I was in job development, I spent almost all my time looking for jobs in the career sectors of my interest. This can always involve applying for, having interviews, or preparing for job interviews anytime of the week. Job development can also involve doing mock interviews or other activities that involve skill enhancement or growth.
After getting employed at Holland & Knight, I worked with my employment consultant to get onboarded and situated in my new job as an Office Services Assistant there. This included identifying and putting together the proper resources to use for working there daily. As someone who is a visual and word-fact thinker, this included identifying and constructing resources that involved step-by-step written instructions, carefully worded charts and lists, maps and corresponding documents with pictures, and a specialized app that allows people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities to learn different independent living and life skills. After sometime, I was stable enough in my employment that I only needed to have periodic check-ins with my employment consultant to see how things were going. These have gone from being one week to two weeks to just one month in the span of a year. Best Buddies Employment Consultants are specially trained to provide the right amount of support for different Jobs Participants.
My involvement in other Best Buddies programming through the Citizens and Ambassadors Programs has allowed me to attend many different activities and events including Citizens Trivia Nights, Citizens Outings to different places in the community, and Ambassadors Trainings. At the same time, I have also attended many Best Buddies events as a member of the jobs program as well. They have mainly been skills workshops, career networking events, disability self-advocacy events, jobs program panels, and other events centered around promoting Best Buddies and their mission. These are events anyone could do as a member of Best Buddies in almost any of its programs.
Conclusion:
Best Buddies was originally founded to only improve, but to make possible a fulfilling and meaningful lives for people of all abilities in society. Its mission is such that it seeks to intentionally put itself out of business to ensure a better tomorrow for people of all abilities and their peers. Best Buddies serves as a model for any program for people with disabilities can be. This include both for any by people with disabilities themselves and their respective allies. Its focus on fostering inclusion and acceptance for people of all abilities is a life message meant to be continually and fully understood by everyone and for anyone in our daily lives. When we model acceptance, autonomy, and equity for others, we create what is possible for innovating a better world for tomorrow.
Thank you to my fellow disability self-advocates, disability allies, supporters, friends, and anyone working to serve with the disability community for taking the time to read this blog. Best Buddies is more than just a nonprofit organization. It is a force for good and change that we can and should all use to our positive advantage. It works to create a more accepting and just world for people of all abilities step-by-step and person-by-person. We can all strive to be inclusive. We can also strive to drive change and ensure equity for people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities because we too matter as much as anyone else in this world. Never stop believing what can be possible, when we always open doors and pathways to anyone for everyone to succeed and contribute.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, The Arc of Northern Virginia relies on private support from individuals, corporations, organizations, and foundations to fund our efforts. Your generous donations help make it possible for us to provide programs, services, and advocacy so that people with IDD can live “A Life Like Yours.”
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