Published on 12, July, 2020
I am very to close and have always being very involved in the care of my brother with autism and I just wanted to ask if there are any other siblings on here who have similiar experiences or to ask parents how involved are your children who are not on the spectrum with their sibling(s) who are?
I have found that there seems to be more awareness of autism now than when I was growing up so I also wanted to ask how do you explain what autism is? This was something I found difficult to explain as a child to other children so just out of interest I would like to know what your experiences with dealing with this are.
My older sister has Aspergers and my experience has been that, as a member of a large family, I often felt resentful that she got more attention than me. I was the quietest child, and so my main role was to support my mother and siblings. I also had a sort of role supporting my sister, however this was incredibly difficult at times. As I have grown older (I am 18 now), I have found myself in a way rejecting the role of carer after it impacted quite negatively upon my life in the past few years. While I support my sister to an extent, and try to help her to improve her career and life prospects, I do not deal with the emotional or practical side as much. Being a sibling of someone with Aspergers, I found this to be a very challanging experience and as I grow older I want to be able to experience a normal life. At the same time, I want her to have a normal life too. Its difficult though to support someone who doesn't appreciate it.