The impact of a person's disability on his or her sibling.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the impact of a person's disability on the psychological, social, family and professional life of that person's siblings. The research is based on a clinical method and case studies. An analysis is made of siblings' verbalizations in different contexts and with different aims: unstructured research interviews conducted with persons who do or do not have a sibling with a disability; meetings of parents, professionals and siblings of persons with a disability; family discussion-therapy. The study demonstrates the importance of giving siblings the opportunity to express themselves, be it about their difficulty in dealing positively with their unique family situations in social and family contexts; about their feelings of shame and guilt; about the distress caused to them by their urges to identify with the sibling with a disability. If denied such opportunities, they may develop symptoms that can seriously compromise their futures.