Effects on Non-disabled Sibling of Having a Sibling with Disability

Effects on the Non-disabled Sibling of Having a Sibling with a Disability
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Effects on the Non-disabled Sibling of Having a Sibling with a Disability
Introduction
There is always a profound effect in a family where a child is born with a disability or it is realized that a child is disabled. It follows that other children are forced to adjust to having a sibling who is disabled since they will require more attention, psychological support, financial support, and other forms of help. Moreover, it is an important concern for a family to see to it a disabled child relates well with other non-disabled brothers or sisters. This is critical because the way the non-disabled siblings react to the disabled child will have a great impact on the way both the disabled and non-disabled children will adjust and develop their self-esteem. According to Burke (2008), the relationships formed between siblings are critical because they are the basis for the kind of interactions they will have with non-family members. It is also noteworthy that the nature of relationships between the non-disabled and disabled siblings may be positive or negative. Therefore, as will be argued in this paper, the non-disabled sibling is faced with a mixture of positive and negative effects when they have a disabled sibling, depending on aspects such as the age or developmental level of the children and the nature of the family environment.
Age and Developmental Level
To begin with, the way that a non-disabled child relates to a disabled sibling can be determined by their age or their level of development. Accordingly, the feelings and responses of the non-disabled child towards their disabled brother or sister are not static but will change from time to time an also as they advance in age or development. A study by Luijkx et al. (2016) showed that experiences of non-disabled children on account of their disabled siblings may be stable at some point but will change over time. In the foregoing, younger children are likely to find it harder to cope with their disabled siblings as compared to older children. For instance, pre-school children may find it confusing, feel afraid, be anxious, or be angry when they have a disabled sibling. At such an age, the non-disabled siblings tend to find it hard to understand why their disabled siblings are different from them or why their parents show more love and attention to the disabled siblings.
Further, an elementary school-aged child may be embarrassed or feel ashamed of their disabled sibling when they realize the differences between their disabled sibling and the non-disabled brothers and sisters of other children. Some of them may worry about developing the same condition as their disabled sibling, so they are likely to feel guilty because they are different from their disabled brother or sister. As such, they may then be overly protective of their disabled sibling, thus causing conflicts between them and their peers. As for a non-disabled young adult with a disabled sibling, they may worry about what will happen to their disabled brother or sister in the future. They may also be concerned about how people will treat or accept their disabled siblings...