Abstract:

The functioning of a family with a child with intellectual disability is exposed to the centralization of life around the needs and difficulties resulting from developmental problems of the child. Parents experience the problem of disability from the adult perspective, meet with it at a certain stage of life and from that moment it affects their system of values, social life, organization of time, and parenthood. Meanwhile, able-bodied siblings raise from the early age in the awareness of the disability of a brother or sister, in the daily duties and restrictions connected with this fact. It is growing up marked by the experience of social perception of the intellectual disability of a loved one, diversified parental attitudes towards able and disabled offspring.

It is also a life in the shadow of rehabilitation, therapy and support system targeted in Poland especially for the needs of the disabled person, sometimes its parents. The question then arises, is the support for non-disabled siblings also? The issues of growing up of able-bodied siblings, its social and partner relationships seem to be overlooked in the light of numerous scientific publications about support for families raising children with intellectual disability in Poland as well as abroad. The siblings of people with disability are called "invisible children", which is a depressing picture of the marginalization of their needs and insufficient scope of support offered to this group.

The aim of the study was to learn about the experiences of adult siblings of people with intellectual disability in terms of its social functioning, social relationships and partner relationships. A qualitative research methodology based on narrative interviews was chosen. The interview was given by 15 adults aged 22-43 who are siblings of people with intellectual disability. The selection of the sample was determined by the fact of raising up with siblings with intellectual disability and the age of the interlocutor. Using interview as a main method allowed to get detailed and individualized knowledge about the experiences of the group being researched, at the same time giving the interlocutors the opportunity to decide independently which aspects of social and partner life are the most important for them. Based on the analysis of the content of interviews, the article is an attempt to answer the question on how adult siblings of people with intellectual disabilities perceive their partner and social relationships and what kind of reaction of the environment towards the intellectual disability of a brother or sister have they experienced? The reflection was whether, and if so, how, the intellectual disability of siblings affects the social life of ale-bodied brothers and sisters.

The interviewees’ perspective presented in the article is a picture of "other", sometimes difficult, but valuable experiences of able- bodied siblings. Research has revealed that growing up with disabled siblings affects the interviewees’ expectations toward partners and their perception of relationship. In addition, it shapes the specificity of social relations of this group, shows which traits and behaviors are expected from good friends by them and which social attitudes they value.

Keywords:

Sibling, partnership, social relations, intellectual disability.