The Best Buddies program, SPARKLE, fosters meaningful friendships between students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) through organized athletics and public performances. Through these inclusive activities, peer mentoring, and community events, SPARKLE breaks down social barriers and builds a school culture rooted in empathy and acceptance. It empowers students to grow in confidence, develop leadership skills, and embrace student body diversity.
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Get help finding a job that YOU want to do by joining the Jobs program and working with our staff.
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Have your voice heard and advocate for Best Buddies through speech writing, public speaking training, and more!
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Advocate, raise funds, and spread the mission of Best Buddies by joining an advisory board.
“Our club is a community where people come to create lifelong bonds. We are proud of fostering a culture where the friendships created transcend beyond club meetings and activities.”
Manage Your Chapter Online!
Best Buddies’ chapter management portal is now available to current chapter leaders and advisors.
Young Leaders Council Blog
Filled with Friendship Tips to Strengthen Buddy Pairs!
Someone wise once said that any good relationship requires hard work and effort from both parties, and the friendship pairs in Best Buddies chapters are no stranger to that! To make friendship work, both individuals must be open, respectful, and honest with one another – but that is easier said than done.
To strengthen these relationships, I have come up with some of my top tips for Peer Buddies and Buddies to facilitate interaction and make the most of their friendships!
How Best Buddies Changed the IDD Community’s Approach to the Workforce
Thanks to Best Buddies, many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) now have jobs. Best Buddies helps employers hire people with IDD by making the roles and tasks of the job more accessible. A couple examples of this are companies installing ramps for wheelchair users; utilizing text-to-speech software for employees; creating organized lists for completing tasks; and providing individualized support systems.
Food, Drinks, and Workability
To my recent discovery, I found that my Best Buddies aide at the Torrey Pines High School Best Buddies Chapter was leaving campus a few days out of the week and walking to the nearby mall and local movie theater with a handful of students. This aide explained to me that she was bringing her students to the local Cinepolis, which our program has partnered with, and the students were acting as interns in the theater. They were completing tasks that ranged from scooping popcorn to filling drinks, and she hoped that one day they would take the orders of customers. As I began to look into this program a little deeper, I found a vast, decade-long history of student enrichment.
How People View Individuals with IDD in Society and Life
How people see individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in life and society varies significantly. Some people believe that individuals with IDD cannot do things on their own and are constantly in need of assistance. Others, however, view them as equal members of society who are fully capable of completing tasks independently. While some may speak at a typical pace, others may be slower in their response time as they process information, but that does not diminish their abilities or worth.
Rethinking Ability: A Dynamic Perspective
“You’re not disabled; just look at you; you’re perfectly fine.”
Most reading that phrase would assume it’s one in a million. An exception to the basic human decency we’re taught to practice as kindergartners. An unwonted quip that we just wouldn’t encounter in the real world.
Newsflash: it’s not.
A New Outlook on Raising Babies with IDD: How Eunie’s Buddies is Transforming Parental Care Across the US
Well, you know what time of year it is. It’s Best Buddies month! And here at the YLC we’re highlighting some important Best Buddies initiatives that are truly inspiring a new generation of change across the United States.
Why don’t we start with the brand new program “Eunie’s Buddies”? Named after Eunice Kennedy Shriver — a pioneer for inclusion and the founder of the Special Olympics — Eunie’s Buddies is revolutionizing the way we’ve historically looked at parental outcomes for those parents just receiving news of their in-utero child’s intellectual and developmental disability (IDD).
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