Best Buddies Leadership Conference Supporters Learn ‘yes, they can’

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- For most of their lives, many of the 1,300 people who were gathered in the IU Auditorium on Friday have heard the word “can’t.”

At the opening ceremony of the Best Buddies International Leadership Conference, they heard the opposite: Yes, you can.

“‘I think she can’t.’ I’ve heard people say this so many times,” said Rachel Lipke, an intellectual and developmental disabilities self–advocate. “I’ve had a lot of difficulties in my life, but I’ve made sure to turn the word ‘can’t’ into ‘can.’”