Josh Felder is still getting the hang of his superpowers.
He’s starred in a feature film, sure. Danced alongside The Weeknd, yes. But if you talk to Felder, this is only the beginning.
The Tampa native’s abilities were born out of out of hardship through a life with high-functioning autism. A complicated lifelong condition that, through Tampa’s award-winning Best Buddies program, he’s parlayed into a Global Ambassador position and one heck of a resume.
In 2023, Felder starred alongside Woody Harrelson and Kaitlin Olson in the sports-comedy drama Champions, in which he plays Darius—the best player on a team riding their down-on-his-luck coach to the Special Olympics. Champions is feel-good and endearing. And Josh is good in it. For all the fun-loving hijinks you’d expect from a team of goofballs coached by Woody Harrelson, Felder’s Darius steadies them with a tangible gravity in every moment he arrives on screen.
Before his stint in Hollywood, Felder became the first known person with an intellectual and developmental disability to take part in the Super Bowl halftime show. He was tapped by The Weeknd to, well, become The Weeknd for his memorable elaborate performance at Raymond James Stadium.
When Felder isn’t flying high, his conceptual "Clark Kent" lies as an office assistant at Holland & Knight law firm, a gig he landed through the Best Buddies Jobs Program. And needless to say, my meeting with him draws my curiosity. It's the Lightning's Neurodiversity Night and Felder is the guest of honor. Sometimes, initial interactions can be delicate—you only get one first impression. But with Josh, it’s an affirmative "Hell yeah."
He arrives to AMALIE Arena in a customized Lightning home jersey embroidered with the No. 24—his uniform number from the movie and an homage to Kobe Bryant. On the back in all caps:
"SWAGMAN."
It’s the kind of jersey that makes you wish you wore one yourself, if only in hopes of an inevitable jersey swap situation down the line. We immediately get to talking about sports, our embedded high school rivalry (Plant vs. Hillsborough) and how quickly Tampa has changed through the years. And after a quick trip to the ice, Felder settles in further to dish on his epic journey and explain just how he got here in the first place.
Thompson Brandes: For those who may not know what highly functioning autism entails, could you speak a little bit to your experience growing up?
Joshua Felder: Okay, so I'm going to tell you the real truth. When I was a kid growing up, I did not know what autism was. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a word called autism. When I was growing up in elementary, I used to be told I was special needs, rather than autistic. And I was always wondering how I was different. I thought I was regular and all that, until it came to the work. It was difficult for me back then.
Plenty of challenges. Were there ways you think autism may have helped you see things in ways other people couldn't?
Yeah! When I got older, that's when I started to understand more about my autism. And I just learned to accept it, rather than be ashamed of it or feel embarrassed from it. I just used it as a superpower, which I describe it as all the time.
How did you get involved with Best Buddies?
I’ve been involved with Best Buddies for 15 years. It started sixth grade at Coleman [Middle School]. It was around the month of September. I was in my ESE classes and we all met up in the cafeteria for club day where we were introduced to Best Buddies. (Best Buddies is a program that promotes friendships between those with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities.) At first, I thought it was just a club to hang out and all that. I didn't know it was about inclusion and accepting people with IDD until I got to high school. That's where I learned more about it and about leadership.
And now you’re a Global Ambassador.
So in Tampa, I consider myself to be a State Ambassador, because I do stuff locally. For Global Ambassador, that's when you get to travel to other states to speak on behalf of Best Buddies and share your story to other people, like businesspeople, sponsors, or even celebrities, because we have a lot of celebrities involved with Best Buddies.