GOALS: Global Awareness
What is global awareness?
Based on the description given by University of Hertfordshire, “Global Awareness is an understanding of how environmental, social, cultural, economic, and political factors impact the world.” Global awareness is important because it grows an understanding and our ability to work well with and respect people from diverse backgrounds.
When I was around 4 years old, I met my best friend who lived down the street from me. We had move nights on weekends, pillow fights during sleepovers, and performed plays that we created for our families. As young as I was, I could see that my friend had some differences from me, but I didn’t pay close attention to it. As I got older, my parents explained to me that she had Cerebral Palsy; she would never be able to walk, talk, or play the same way I did.
As I was growing up, my dad was a guardian to people in nursing homes; to this day he remains a guardian to one person. Through him, I met many people as they would come over to have dinner with us or to celebrate the holidays. My dad took me with him to visit them at the nursing homes a few times and it was interesting to learn about a place where people lived that was different than mine.
As I got older, I developed a strong interest in also helping people with disabilities just as how my dad has done for years. I started to volunteer for camps that involved helping kids with special needs. I had the opportunity to meet wonderful people and teach a young girl how to ride a bike; the experience brought smiles to all of our faces. Fast forwarding to my freshman year of college at The Ohio State University, I attended the involvement fair to find clubs that I was interested in joining. I stumbled upon an organization called “Best Buddies.” Best Buddies is “the worlds largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical, and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).”When a person signs up with this organization, they can either choose to be a peer buddy (working one on one with someone) or an associate buddy (helping anyone at events in general). I chose to be a peer buddy and have started to develop a great relationship with a new friend.
Society tends to divide us humans into different groups, separating us from creating one community. We are divided by race, religion, gender, or abilities. The IDD community tends to get separated from parts of our society and I want to be a part of that reason why it changes. By being involved in organizations such as Best Buddies and volunteering at IDD camps, I want to spread awareness about this amazing community and all of their special abilities. I have seen all of these people have great talent, intelligence, and strong capabilities that I want the rest of the world to see. I have been introduced to so many wonderful people through these programs and just as with race or religion, they should not be divided away because one has different capabilities than us. I believe people should bring themselves to be more aware of the IDD community and come to realize that positive social change comes from all of us working together, not when we are divided. Coming together as one humanity makes the world a better place for all of us to live in.
