Building Natural Relationships
How did you meet your friends? Maybe in school, at work, in a sports club or your neighborhood. But would you ever think of meeting your friends for the first time on Zoom? For Pause young adult, Jackson, and Pause volunteer, Michael - that’s exactly how their friendship started.
Making friends can be hard for all of us sometimes and kids with disabilities can find this even more challenging. Communication might be difficult, social interactions may be limited and sometimes kids with disabilities have a hard time connecting or feeling like they fit in especially if they struggle with anxiety or understanding what culture defines as “social norms”. Sometimes having a more “formal” meeting of peers is necessary to jump start a friendship.
Jackson and Michael first met in a Pause experience called Virtual Hangouts where Pause pairs kids and volunteers to have a shared experience together virtually- whether that be creating a craft, playing video games or just hanging out. Pause created this programming option during 2020 when in-person fun was limited and quickly found that some of our Pause kids preferred and even thrived in this virtual space! It allowed kids who were more medically fragile to participate and also made some kids with disabilities more comfortable.
Jackson and Michael first bonded over their mutual love of baseball cards! Both longtime fans of the Cincinnati sports teams, they had a lot to talk about with the Reds and Bengals in season. Since their first meeting in the fall of 2020, the pair has met over 25 times to talk about sports, play online games or just chat! This spring, Michael shared with our team recently that he and Jackson have moved from formally meeting through Virtual Hangouts to just casually FaceTiming! From what started as a relationship organized by Pause staff has grown into an organic friendship between two guys who value and respect each other!
Jackson’s mom shared with us, “The virtual hangouts have subsided, but they will FaceTime each other, call each other on Christmas, and volunteer at Pause events together. I am forever grateful for discovering my tribe and for the outreach that the staff at Pause do to help families like mine. Jackson has a solid relationship with someone who is not only a friend to him, but a mentor.”
Michael shared with us, “When I first started my virtual hangouts with Jackson, I was a bit nervous and didn’t know what to expect. I never wanted him to feel like he had to join our zoom calls if he wasn’t interested. Now almost 3 years later, it makes my day when he’s the one to reach out first after it’s been a little while since we last talked. No matter how much changes in my life, I can always look forward to our conversations about sports, vacations, school, or any exciting life updates.”
From the start of virtual hangouts in November of 2020, Pause intended them to be a stepping stone into a friendship outside of Pause. Thanks to the willingness to try something new and the first step into uncomfortable, Jackson and Michael have proven our theory to be true! We are excited to watch their friendship grow for years to come!
This is CAN DO. This is COMMUNITY. This is YOUR SUPPORT.
