Are you the only one in your family with your disability? Do you feel out of place? Do you have a different lifestyle then the rest of your family, your siblings in particular? Do you feel you are being lead on a different path than the rest of your family? Do you not feel as close to your siblings as your siblings may feel to each other?
Have you ever thought about these questions? Have you ever felt different from the rest of your family because of your disability? I know that I have thought of these questions through out my life. I have always noticed how my life is different from the rest of my family. How? Well here I will use some examples from my life...
I have always had a hard time in school and always needed assistance, but as for my siblings, school was pretty different and a lot easier for them. They could just go to school and learn by themselves easily without any help. They also are aiming for a degree. As for me my situation? It is completely different.
My brother and sister also have jobs and can keep a job. As for me working a real job can take a whole lot more effort than for the "normal" person. As I get tired and drained pretty easily. I am able to commit to just a few hours at a time for only a day or so a week without feeling overwhelmed.
I have also felt different in the way my siblings and I interact with each other and how our relationships seems different. It can be hard to get close to them. I feel like maybe it's different because I'm more of a heart to heart person. I like to ask more personal questions and they just like to "hang out". But that can be typical for teenagers too. I will let you in on a little secret here that I have never really told anyone else but my family. But the reason why I share personal things is to help you as well as to see if we can relate. That way we can talk about it and try and make it better. So, whenever my family and I had dinner together or went out to dinner I always used to get frustrated after dinner because I feel like no one was really interacting or trying to interact with me. I'm talking about my siblings here. They have shared experiences by attending the same school that I just can't relate to. Don't get me wrong, they ask me questions, but it's different. They share stories and moments together that I won't be a part of. Do you have a disability and have you ever felt that way with your family? Let me know because I would love to see if anybody else have felt this way...
Being the only child with a disability and different challenges can make you question "why am I the only one in my family with a disability?" But then when you really think about it and when you listen in to hear the different type of struggles your siblings may have at school, work and with friends like drama, gossip, stuff like that, you realize everyone has their own type of challenges and you learn to be thankful with the life you have. Even though it may be different than your siblings. We all have our struggles and challenges. We all have times in our lives that we feel different than the rest. But eventually we have to learn to be okay with it and live our best lives despite the challenges we may face having our disability. Although our lives may be different from the rest of our siblings/family we can learn what we love to do and be proud of the things we do have in our lives.