On April 30th fourteen people came to Boston College for The BUILD Program. The BUILD Program stands for Buddies United in Leadership Development and we learn how to speak in public and self-advocate for people with disabilities. It was a very good program.
The first BUILD training I attended was at the Best Buddies Leadership Conference in Indianapolis, and after that I did four speeches.
The first one I did was at Leadership Conference right after my training and it was awesome. I spoke about my job and about my Best Buddy, Steve.
The second speech was at the Boston Local Leadership Conference for people who didn’t go to the first Leadership Conference. I talked about what I learned at LC, the BUILD program, and the “R” word. At last year’s BUILD for Jobs participants, I facilitated an ice-breaker and gave a speech.
My fourth speech was in front of a large company and I talked about how I do my job at Best Buddies (I am an office assistant so I answer phones and do my favorite job- scanning). My BUILD partner (speech coach) helped me with making speeches – she helped me with writing and speaking.
I feel comfortable giving speeches and using a microphone. I always get a lot of laughs! I know how to give a speech to over fifty people, and now I have a picture with Anthony Shriver!
At this year’s BUILD training at Boston College, I worked with Chris Watkins, a program manager from the Western Massachusetts office and we role-played different situations that people with disabilities can encounter. These situations showed how everyone can be a self-advocate. I was teaching what I learned from LC last year. People were working very hard on their speeches. It’s a good program because it helped everyone be a better person.
BUILD trainings can be emotional but people worked hard for it to be a huge success. I look forward to continuing to work at Best Buddies and giving more speeches.
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