The Support for Siblings ofPeople with Disabilities
Matsumoto.Risa (Doshisha Univ. PhD. Student)
The 3rd Social Welfare Seminar
between Chung-Ang Univ. and Doshisha Univ.
25 / 6 / 20111

The Focus and Purposeof My Research
The Focus :The Siblings of Mentally Disabled People・‘siblings’: brothers and sisters of mentally disabled people・‘disabled siblings’:disabled people (not ‘siblings’)・‘mentally disabled people’: intellectual disabled people
in Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Purpose :(1) I clarify a part of the problems that siblings have.
(2) I clarify the meaning of self-help groups for siblings.
2Evaluating this report
・The last purpose of my research:
I consider the problems of siblings of mentallydisabled people and the support they get frommany angles and clarify the support whichsiblings truly need.
・My research is based on the results showed byliteratures, observations with participationand interviews.
・This report is a part of the results of myresearch. My research is still on-going.
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The Reason I Focus on the Siblingsof Mentally Disabled People(1)The siblings continue to have a relationshipwith mentally disabled people from theirchildhood to advanced age because of thecharacteristic of their disabilities.
(2) Mentalｌｙ disabled people have hard timecommunicating by speech. When they haveother disabilities, their siblings have moreproblems.
4The Problems of Siblings Have
The Siblings’ Problems Come fromInteraction among Three Problems.
The Problems ofFamily Members(Disabled People/ Parents)

Incomplete Systemsof Disabled People

Discrimination andPrejudice in Society5

(1)The Psychological Problems
in Family・Some siblings feel lonely, angry, and bitter forfamily members.
・Some parents demand the siblings of mentallydisabled people to be perfect.
・In the background, it is hard for parents to pay
attention to siblings because parents spend
too much time and care for mentally disabledpeople.
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(2)The Social Problems as Caretakers
・Some siblings spend too much time and carefor mentally disabled people though they are
not mature enough to do so.
・ Some siblings play more parts when theirparents grow older or pass away.
・ In the background, the parents or society
demand the siblings of mentally disabled
people to be caretakers in place of theparents.
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The Meaning of Self-Help Groups for Siblings(1) Mutual Understanding of Experiencesand Feelings
Before siblings join in・Siblings had the difference in the content ofconversation between themselves and people withnon-disabled siblings.
After siblings join in・Siblings have encountered with people experiencing
the same difficulty in self-help groups.
・Therefore, it has been easy for them to talk about
disabled sibling and feel comfortable in self-helpgroups.

8(2)Getting Information for
the Support for Disabled People
Before siblings join in・Siblings did not know the systems of disabled people.

After siblings join in・Most of the members in self-help groups haveexperienced the difficulty of disabled people.
・The members have advised siblings how to receive thesupport for disabled people.

9(3) Considering again about
Siblings’ Life
Before siblings join in・Some siblings felt that they were leading ameaningless life after their disabled sibling passedaway.
・They tried to become ‘the parents’of their disabledsiblings.
After siblings join in・Some of the siblings consider their life again as ‘thesibling of disabled people’ in self-help groups.
10(4) Empowerment
Before siblings join in・Some sibling felt he was leading a meaningless life
after their disabled sibling passed away.
・Other sibling could not talk with their family members
about her disabled.
After siblings join in・Some sibling found the meaning of talking about hisexperience.
・Other sibling worked on her family members. And
they gradually came to talk about my disabled sibling.
11Conclusion
・The number of earlier research about siblings is small.
One of the reasons is that the problems of mentallydisabled people and their parents are outstanding,but the problems of siblings are not outstanding.
・The support systems of disabled people based on theproblems of the mentally disabled or their parents. In
the present situation, the self-help group for siblings
is important.
・In the self-help group for siblings, not only dosiblings receive the good effect, but also mentallydisabled people or their parents.
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