Nadine Farsi
Nadine is the adult older sibling of a neurodivergent individual. While speaking with her personally, she wanted to share a few thoughts about her experiences as an adult sibling and growing up with a neurodivergent brother. Below, Nadine shares information and advice that she wishes her parents had known to support her during childhood.
6/1/23
"I get really teary-eyed because I had a really hard time. Just understand that there are parents, too, who are really old school and are not very supportive. They may feel like their other children are just fine. And they just let them fend for themselves. I feel like each child is really unique and different. And most of those kids who have siblings that are special needs feel really invisible. I would recommend taking that sibling out of the house and spending a day with them to really talk about things instead of having them be in a home setting is really important. I know individuals who have special needs siblings, and they're adults and they will say that they can't even handle or cannot even deal with their sibling. They feel so much resentment. And they feel that they were just left behind. Their parents are aging, and so they are now responsible for taking care of their siblings later in life. So I think this is really an important topic. Thank you."