Abstract
Sibling relationships, one of the longest relationships in life, can be altered by the presence of autism. The paper explores the perspectives of adults who grew up with a sibling with autism. Little is known about this relationship from an adult perspective due to reliance on parental and child voices in the literature. Eight adults were interviewed on their retrospective and current experiences of their relationship with their sibling with autism. The data underwent an interpretive phenomenological analysis. The findings suggest a relationship characterised by an ebb and flow of a nuanced sibling dyad across siblinghood. Siblings move between moments of closeness and distance and engage in continuous complex meaning making of their sibling relationship, where their growth in understanding autism influences their interpretation of their experiences. These findings challenge rigid, absolute notions of siblinghood with autism and have implications for improving a sibling bond.
Published Version
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