The Special Needs Sibling Podcast

15. A Raw Dialogue

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Conversations about what it's like being a sibling are starting to gain more traction.  And sometimes we don't feel like talking about our feelings, but we want to hear about other people's experiences.  As we continue to venture into the world of siblings, the more conversations we start having around emotional support are just as important.  Take a listen to Ali's story in episode 15. 


In this episode we talk about:

  • About Ali’s family and 3 brothers with autism, and how they’re a good representation across the autism spectrum
  • Terms like “high functioning”, “low functioning”, “high needs”, etc
  • How people respond to our families
  • Stress levels and experiences we didn’t have growing up
  • Threshold when it comes to asking for help
  • Silence in the house and how that affects us
  • Ali’s book that she wrote (https://www.amazon.com/What-Are-You-Looking-At-ebook/dp/B0C1HPNH3D) to start a dialogue and glass children
  • Picking your battles and being reached out to
  • Generations of sibs and how they need support in different ways
  • Sibshops and hope for the future of how siblings are supported
  • Wanting to feel connected and validated
  • What can lead up to an identity crisis in a sibling
  • Messages that we internalize
  • Caregiving and our individual stories about how we feel about our siblings being in group homes so we can “have our own lives”
  • Going to therapy and how our feelings are evolving about our siblings and parents and ourselves
  • What it’s like to be in a time machine when we go back and visit our families
  • Charlene talks about her life time line starting with therapy till when she moved
  • Ali being in a full house of people all the time but yet nobody there just for her
  • Questioning if we just exist to help and serve other people
  • There is hope for us!  It just might take some time with the right people
  • Relationships, anger, frustration, loneliness, and other feelings
  • Internal and external battles 
  • Identifying feelings and therapy and hard work
  • We matter and deserve to be cared for
  • Having refreshing and real conversations
  • Ali’s encouragement to fellow siblings


    • Links

    • feelings wheel: https://cdn.gottman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Gottman-Institute_The-Feeling-Wheel_v2.pdf


      • 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