When Your Sibling Has A Disability

This is a guest post by Kate Croston. Thanks to Kate.

Growing up was relatively a walk in the park for me. School naturally came easy for me, as well as sports. I excelled on many different levels and accomplished a lot. You would think I was proud of my abilities and proud of what I had made for myself. Except I wasn’t.

I have a twin sister and everything that came easy for me was difficult for her. At a young age she was diagnosed with learning disabilities like dyslexia and ADHD. My family did not educate me on what this meant. As I excelled through school and fell behind. I was constantly being put in charge of helping her with her homework and getting questioned on why her grades were lower than mine. Through the years I began to get frustrated with her disabilities.

I saw it as her not trying and being lazy. I would watch her struggle through a paper and just give up after a few moments. I couldn’t comprehend what was so difficult. As a twin you are constantly being compared to the other. As much as family, friends and teachers tried not to. It happened. She had special tutors, appointments and classes. The few classes we shared, I would cringe when she was called on by the teacher. I would look at her and she would throw me a panicked look and stutter with an incorrect answer. Other students would snicker and the teacher would then call on me to correct her.

I didn’t realize or understand her problem until we arrived to our final year of high school. All sorts of tests were being taken, college essays written and campus tours. We received a call from the school counselor and said that she would not be graduating because of her low scores. She expected the news, I did not. I didn’t realize how hard things were for her. It hit me like a ton of bricks. All these years I didn’t know she truly was struggling because no one told me what it meant. I guess I could have asked or picked up a book. I constantly live in regret thinking about all the times she cried or was made fun of and how I just walked away.

It is so very important that families teach and educate their children on disabilities. I know I could have helped her more or at least been there emotionally through her tough times if I had known what these big terms actually meant. Parents need to sit down with the siblings and talk it out. It’s not a bad thing or a disease. Disabilities shouldn’t be kept a secret or not explained. Families need to embrace and do their best to guide them positively.

Kate Croston is a freelance writer, holds a bachelors degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She writes guest posts for different sites and loves contributing business internet service related topics. Questions or comments can be sent to:  katecroston.croston09 @ gmail.com.