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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