Relationships

Best Buddies Maryland offers a variety of Best Buddies International programs that create opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

These programs include:

• Best Buddies Middle Schools - Best Buddies Middle Schools fosters one-to-one friendships between students with and without IDD. Students with IDD are often isolated and left out of social activities. Best Buddies Middle Schools helps to create an inclusive school climate for students early on in their educational development.
• Best Buddies High Schools - Best Buddies High Schools fosters one-to-one friendships between students with and without IDD. The high school years are a time of heightened social and emotional development and can be difficult even for those without IDD. Best Buddies High Schools helps break through social barriers at an important time in a young person's life.
• Best Buddies Colleges - Best Buddies Colleges fosters one-to-one friendships between college students and adults with IDD and college students without IDD. Historically, adults with IDD have been isolated in home or work environments. Best Buddies Colleges is changing this by providing the opportunity for people with IDD to be involved in campus and community life.
• Best Buddies Citizens - Best Buddies Citizens fosters one-to-one friendships between adults with and without IDD in corporate and civic communities. This program helps people with IDD become part of mainstream society and creates an inclusive and diverse community for all.
• e-Buddies - e-Buddies provides a safe online forum to develop one-to-one friendships between people with and without IDD. Technology is an integral part of society and by participating in e-Buddies, participants can develop the skills necessary to be able to communicate using a variety of sources.
• Best Buddies Jobs - Best Buddies Jobs is a supported employment program that secures competitive paying jobs for people with IDD, therefore enabling them to work as respected individuals. The program develops partnerships with employers, assists with the hiring process, and provides ongoing support to the employee and employer.

The Chateau is the place to go hand dancing in the District (or, really, anywhere). Thursday through Sunday, this club is filled with oldies DJs and a middle-aged clientele that definitely knows how to dance. Many of the people here are regulars who also attend dance classes. This is the best place to enjoy DC's own version of swing dancing.

e-Buddies is an e-mail pen pal program that provides opportunities for e-mail friendships between people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their peers who do not have IDD.

Each participant is matched in a one-to-one e-mail friendship, and matched pairs are asked to exchange e-mails once a week for at least one year. Matches are made based on similar age, gender, geography (i.e. participants will NOT be matched with someone from the same state/province), and shared interests.

e-Buddies is open to anyone with an e-mail address who is 10 years old and up. Participants with IDD can sign up individually, or in groups through a special education class or a support service agency. e-Buddies is ALWAYS free of charge for participants with IDD.

e-Buddies is a program of Best Buddies International.

The Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital (GSCNC) helps girls to promote diversity, gain practical life skills, and connect with their community through a variety of artistic, educational, and environmental events. Some of these events include:

• Photography expos
• College and career conferences
• Nature workshops

The Ms. Wheelchair District of Columbia is a sisterhood of dynamic women who are dedicated to promoting disability awareness, education, and empowerment. For the last 10 years, the Ms. Wheelchair District of Columbia organization has selected a spokesperson to speak to the general public about her life as a person with a disability, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and a platform issue of her choosing. Moreover, Ms. Wheelchair District of Columbia competes nationally with other state titleholders in the annual Ms. Wheelchair America Pageant.

Parent to Parent USA (P2PUSA) is an organization that offers programming and parent-to-parent support to families with children that have disabilities, special healthcare needs, or mental health needs.

P2P organizes a one-to-one match between an experienced support parent and a non-experienced parent. This “match” allows the experienced parent to provide emotional support, provide assistance with finding resources, information, services, etc. and allows the opportunity for the non-experienced parent to form relationships and connections in the community. After the match is made, P2P will follow up and provide support to ensure that the match achieves the P2P organization’s goals.

Contributes to the stability and strength of the community by fostering the development of emotionally healthy children and strong parent-child relationships through specializing in the assessment, treatment, and prevention of emotional, behavioral, and developmental problems in infants and young children. Supports community-based organizations that host and maintain resource corners in their facilities that provide families online access to community resources.

Riverview School, an independent coeducational boarding/day school, provides a caring community for adolescents and young adults with complex language, learning and cognitive disabilities. The School is committed to developing student competence and confidence in academic, social and independent living skills.

This webpage offers a series of educative articles, compiled by Five 9 Call Center Software, on hearing impairment and accessibility issues. These articles provide specific information about:

• The history of telecommunications devices
• Telephone relay services
• Using a TTY system
• Accessing 9-1-1 emergency services
• Ongoing efforts to improve telecommunication
• Overcoming isolation through social media
• Making distance learning courses more inclusive
• The challenges of communicating in the workplace
• Accessibility and the Americans with Disabilities Act

This webpage also offers informative resources related to hearing impairment. These resources include:

• Webpages devoted to deaf culture
• Reviews of assistive technology products
• A database of closed-captioned, educational DVDs