Inclusion and more

Dear myself You have autism. Autism makes it challenging for you to accept criticism, deal with sudden change, be in situations where loud noise is not controlled and appropriately interact with your peers. You see it as a diagnosis of AWESOMENESS. You don't let your disability define you and stop you from challenging yourself to pursue greatness with humility. You went to New Way Academy through eighth grade and you keep in touch with many of your friends from there. You have graduated from Chaparral High School and you had to challenge yourself throughout your time at Chaparral High School by reading hard novels like "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare and by pantomiming during theatre 1 class. You shared your story about what it is like to have autism during Chaparral High School's commencement ceremony, which had over 5,000 people in attendance. You used to not have a job that payed you a paycheck but now you have a job at Christ Lutheran School in Phoeni...

I have been actively involved in the eBuddies program since Leadership Conference 2011 when I heard about it during the Ambassador trainings.  I joined eBuddies so I could have a friend who I could email about life- so that I would not have to overemail Best Buddies staff members. I started out being paired with my eBuddy Marla for two years and we formed a strong friendship over email. We emailed about our lives, Best Buddies and everything else.  I am currently paired one-to-one with my eBuddy Courtney. We have developed a strong friendship over email and we email our a wide array of topics including Best Buddies, our jobs, our families, our trips and our favorite kinds of food. I have realized that it takes time for our friendship to develop but we have developed a strong relationship.  We follow through on the eBuddies commitment of emailing once a week so we avoid getting reminders from Best Buddies staff members!  Courtney and I have been there this...