Buddies sought to support disabled young people in Covid lockdown

Young people with disabilities already have a harder time making friends and building a social life, and the coronavirus lockdown has left them even more isolated from the rest of the world, according to interest organization HandicapNL. The organization therefore launched a new push for its buddy program, to help break through this isolation, ANP reports.

"About 400 thousand young people between the ages of 15 and 30 have a disability and 63 percent of them report feeling lonely on a regular basis," HandicapNL said. Its buddy program aims to promote interaction between young people with and without a disability. This is mutually beneficial, the organization said, because both young people get to socialize more in a time that this is very difficult.

HandicapNL's buddy project has been running for years, with dozens of young people making friends with peers who have a disability. The new push for this project was launched on Thursday. Even an occasional call to find out how they're doing can already break through the isolation. More information can be found here.