Kids Are Not The Same

I'm constantly reminded that kids are not the same. Well, maybe on sitcoms all the kids are the same. And maybe we assume that all kids in a classroom are the same. But they are not and we should expect them not to be the same. Nor can we make policy as if they are the same. In the real world kids are different. Karen Olsson writes in NYT about Her Autistic Brothers. The difficulty in raising kids is fully exposed and wonderfully detailed. What a challenge these brothers pose for not just the parents but also for the siblings. And the article just brushes what a challenge our society faces finding how to find productive lives for these young adults. Almost a year ago Gretchen Cook wrote about Siblings of Disabled Have Their Own Problems. This story uses an estimate from Arc of the United States that there are 7 million siblings of children with disablilities. If you ask around I'm certain that you'll find someone else who knows about this problem first hand. Read these two articles and you'll have a better understanding.