Sibling Connections Newsletter Fall 2004 
Greetings siblings!
The Rehabilitation Research
and
Please email and
comment/feedback/suggestions to
John Kramer:
jkrame3@uic.edu
Siblings
come together for Illinois Sibling Connections Conference
What
siblings liked about Sibling Connections
What
did attendees get out of Sibling Connections?
Pictures from Sibling
Connections
Sign up
to Sibling Connections listserv for more information on upcoming events
Sponsors
for Sibling Connections 2004
Siblings come together for
Illinois Sibling Connections Conference
Deerfield, IL-
Siblings of people with disabilities, parents, and professionals
gathered for the first ever Sibling Connections Conference, sponsored by the
RRTC on Aging with Developmental Disabilities at the Center for Enriched Living
on October 29th and 30th, 2004. “I
really want this to be a chance for siblings to talk to other siblings and to
get energized about this conference,” the director of the RRTC,
Siblings at Sibling Connections
The Executive Director of the Center for Enriched
Living, Harriett Levy, opened with a warm welcome. The Dean of College of Applied Health Sciences, Toby Tate,
welcomed the participants the conference, stating, “I had no idea that there
was help for people who play in the lives of our sisters and brothers who
happen to need extra help.” Heller highlighted the latest research findings on
siblings of people with disabilities and offered her own experiences as a
sibling.
Dean Tate
Siblings are key future informal caregivers for adults
with disabilities; yet they typically are not targeted by professionals. The RRTC on Aging with Developmental
Disabilities partnered with the Center for Enriched Living to create the
Sibling Connections Conference to reach out to adult siblings.
Participants had the opportunity to listen to and meet a wide variety
of experts on sibling relationships of people with disabilities. The speakers highlighted very important issues
to siblings ranging from what current research says about siblings to how
siblings can be better advocates for their brothers and sisters with
disabilities.
(From left to right)
Harriett Levy, Don Meyer, Mary McHugh,
Mary McHugh, author of “Special Siblings” and current writer for Good
Housekeeping, also gave the attendees her insights from interviewing other
siblings for her book. “I interviewed a
hundred siblings,” Mary said, “I wanted to write a book that would be a friend
to siblings of people with disabilities.”
Siblings got up bright and early on Saturday morning to hear Don Meyer,
creator of Sibshops, talk about what siblings of people with disabilities want
their service providers to know. He
stressed that siblings often have the longest relationships with each other,
but are all too often neglected in by service providers. Don has been promoting Sibshops as a great
place for siblings to realize that “they are not alone” by giving siblings a
chance to relate to each other and to vent their feelings.
Tom Fish closed out the conference by reinforcing the need to advocate
for their brothers and sisters with disabilities to siblings. Tom stressed that siblings should “express
themselves clearly, directly, and without guilt” to be effective advocates for
their brothers and sisters. Tom heads
the Ohio SIBS initiative whose primary
goal is empower adult siblings of people with disabilities through
informational and referral resources.
Participants also went to several breakout sessions about
legal/financial aspects of future planning, relationships and sexuality of
people with disabilities, navigating the service system in
The RRTC plans continuing ongoing activities for siblings of people
with disabilities. Please contact John Kramer for more information on upcoming
events.
What siblings liked about
Sibling Connections
“…[I liked]
meeting others and gaining more info regarding services for my sib...”
“I was so
impressed with the wonderful feeling of warmth, compassion, and passion.”
“I liked the
freedom to exchange ideas.”
“I loved meeting
with other siblings and discussing issues, laughing, connecting, and learning
the system.”
“liked concrete
info (financial/legal) that was very educational…”
“...presenters are so knowledgeable. I have attended so many conferences I feel
as if I hear the same thing over and over.
[I] received a lot of new content.”
What did attendees get
out of Sibling Connections?
Siblings had the chance to meet leading experts and to join forces with
other siblings who experience similar issues.
Many siblings learned about issues that they had not previously known
about. Nearly 3/4 felt they learned
more about sibling issues. This
information is key for siblings who are often not included in family
discussions. Siblings also plan to
share what they’ve learned with their friends and family. Siblings anticipate being a better advocate
for their brother or sister.
Several siblings plan to start their own sibling groups in their
community. “I’ve already bonded with
several [people] and we’ve shared emails,” one conference-goer said, “we are
planning a get together for dinner or lunch in the near future.” Several other siblings plan to develop their
own programs for siblings.
In fact, just last week, siblings from the Chicagoland area met at
Buca’s over a fine Italian “family style” dinner. It was exciting to see several of the siblings from Sibling
Connections as well as some new faces.
Thanks to Jill Hoffsted for taking the initiative in bringing us
together! This group looks to be a very
dedicated bunch who are very interested in socializing with each other (and our
siblings!) as well. Also, Jacqui Skelly
and Tara Koseniak are starting on on-line group of which one of their first
suggestions is to raise awareness of sibling issues by writing Oprah. Please check out http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AdultSibGroups/ or subscribe to AdultSibGroups-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com for more information.
The RRTC is currently looking for siblings who are interested in
participating in workshops on future planning for people with
disabilities. Groups will be forming
after the New Year, so please contact John Kramer at jkrame3@uic.edu for more information on when
and where these workshops will be. We
are also looking for siblings to interview about their future planning
experiences, so please contact John if you
are interested and he will tell you more about it!
The RRTC will be doing
this newsletter quarterly. If you’d
like to sign up and haven’t already, please follow these directions. If you have any suggestions on topics to
cover in future issues or have difficulties signing up, just email John Kramer .
Sign up to Sibling
Connections listserv
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join the sibconnections list serv to keep up-to-date on upcoming Sibling
Connections events.
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The Rehabilitation Research and
The Department of Disability and
Human Development
1640 W.
The Supporting Siblings in Future Planning Project
John Kramer
Rm 538
Phone:
312-996-7988
Fax:
312-996-6942
Email: jkrame3@uic.edu
We extend our thanks to the Center for Enriched Living for hosting of
Sibling Connections and the
We also wish to thank our sponsors for promoting this event.
We thank all our speakers and breakout session leaders for their
generous contributions and expertise. We also thank Tom Fish, Don Meyer, Mary
McHugh and all the other speakers for their time and energy in making this
conference a success.
Finally, we thank Ohio SIBS for
the inspiration for this event in
-The Sibling Connections Staff
Sponsored by:
The Rehabilitation Research and
Training Center on Aging with
The College of Applied
Health Sciences
The Institute on
Disability and Human Development
The Dept of Disability and
Human Development
Hosted by:
The Center for Enriched Living
Co-Sponsors
Advocate
The Arc of
Avenues to
Best
Buddies
CARC
Center for
Independent Futures
Community
Alternatives Unlimited
Community
Support Services
Molyneaux
Financial Group
