Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create opportunities for one-to-one friendships, equal employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (http://www.bestbuddies.org/best-buddies). This organization can be found in middle schools, high schools, and universities all around the world—including Emory.
Most of you have probably encountered someone with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) at some point in your life. Maybe it’s a family member, a friend, an acquaintance, or just someone you saw walking on the street. Many people don’t know how to react upon encountering someone with IDD—it's normal. We were all raised in a society where the differences of a person define them, but this should not be the case. An autistic person is just a person who happens to have autism. IDDs should not define a person, and we should not let them—this is one of the goals of Best Buddies.
People often ask me why I started doing Best Buddies. My typical answer is that my best friend has IDD. My best friend also happens to be my little sister and one of the most amazing people I know. While her IDDs are extremely mild, she has still struggled in the twelve years of her life to stay at grade level in school and be socially competent. One of the most wonderful things about my sister is that she doesn’t let her difficulties define her—she knows that she has some differences, and she not only accepts them, but also embraces them. I have watched her struggle to make friends (even when she does not see the struggle), and quite frankly it has broken my heart.
When I heard about Best Buddies and its main goals, I was instantly intrigued. Everyone deserves to have a best buddy. At first, I saw Best Buddies as a way to give someone with IDD a friend that they would look forward to hanging out with. I soon learned that Best Buddies is so much more than a one-way friendship. It is a mutual friendship where both sides benefit. This organization is not just meant to be a volunteer program. As a volunteer, the person or group you are volunteering for is the one benefitting. In Best Buddies, both you and your buddy are benefitting from the relationship you build—this is one of the reasons that this organization is so special. The buddies that I have had throughout high school and college thus far have become true friends of mine and make me just as happy as I make them.
