The Special Needs Sibling Podcast

13. The Sibling Experience is Individual, a Balance, and a Process

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Everyone's sibling experience is unique and individual and at the same time can be a great bonding experience with other siblings. There are so many pros and cons to living life as a sibling that we don't know how to vocalize our needs sometimes. It's definitely a process and a balance trying to hold everything together, but it takes time! And even then, it's still a unique experience to YOU. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Do what's best for you and when you do that, there's so much empowerment that comes with it. Take a listen to this conversation with Jasmine to hear her story.


In this episode we talk about:

  • About Jasmine’s family with multiple siblings with a variety of disabilities AND her very own family with a daughter who has down syndrome
  • Jasmine being involved in disability ministry
  • Going from being a sibling to someone with special needs to a mom to someone of special needs
  • Being a parent to your children who are also special needs siblings
  • Advocating for your kids with disabilities and teaching them to advocate for themselves
  • How hard it is to vocalize the feelings we have as children and also voice our needs as adults
  • The enneagram (just for a little bit)
  • Not wanting to be told no when we ask or even realizing that we have needs that we need to have met
  • The parental grieving process when a child is diagnosed with a disability
  • Siblings also mourn or grieve things that have been impacted by disability
  • The longest lasting relationship for a person with a disability is most likely going to be their sibling
  • Siblings are a core component of families affected by disability 
  • Talking openly about how your experience is changing as you, your sibling, and parents age
  • Counseling is important to help you work through feelings and acknowledge the hard things
  • Diversity of the sibling experience, that may even have things that are not related to disability
  • Being able to connect with other sibs even when our individual experiences can be very different
  • Feeling safe with other sibs and laughing at jokes
  • How we feel when we’re connected to other siblings
  • Being able to hold both the good and the bad parts of the process and both things can be true
  • Taking action on prioritizing yourself
  • Sibnet on Facebook (https://siblingsupport.org/connect/sibnet/), instagram, and a community of varied experiences might can even help us identify things in our own journey
  • Empathy and feeling lonely as a sibling
  • Taking the time to be alone to feel our feelings when they’re hard
  • How we communicate with our partners when navigating our feelings when we share them
  • Third-culture-kids and typical siblings in Jasmine’s family
  • It’s complicated
  • Jasmine’s encouragement to fellow siblings


    • - Check out the blog and contact Charlene here: https://thespecialneedssiblingpodcast.com/

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    Music by:

    • AlexGrohl from Pixabay
    • QubeSounds from Pixabay
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      The Special Needs Sibling PodcastBy The Special Needs Sibling Podcast