I initially joined RespectAbility as a Fellow in January 2018, as a part of the first Fellowship cohort that Ben was responsible for recruiting. Some of the people in that cohort remain my closest friends, and without Ben, I would have never met any of them.
Later in 2018, I joined the Staff. Ben and I worked together closely to promote the Fellowship program and supervise the Communications Fellows. I had never managed anyone before, but Ben was a great mentor to me in how to provide constructive feedback on assignments. He really cared about making sure that every single Fellow would leave the program ready for success in the workplace. I’m a better manager because of Ben.
Up until COVID forced us to go fully remote, Ben and I (and the rest of the team) had lunch together every day at our office or at the sports bar next to the office. I had so many memorable conversations with Ben about politics over these lunches. We very often agreed, but even when we didn’t, we still enjoyed debating.
Ben was instrumental in training me to feel slightly nauseous whenever I saw someone treated with kid gloves or as a hero just because they were disabled. Ben and I would torment each other by sending each other inspiration porn we’d seen online or on TV. I can’t say it was fun, but it was certainly cathartic.
Once we were both vaccinated, I was grateful when Ben reached out to me and asked if we could have dinner one night. This led to more than half a dozen dinners we shared in the past year and a half. Ben was more than a co-worker for me. He was a really great friend. I’m sad that the world will be deprived of the good Ben would have done if he was still here, and that I won’t be able to have another conversation with him. I am seriously going to miss him.
