We see you. You are not alone.
Families raising children with disabilities are stronger than we know. They fight battles most people will never see.
And sometimes, what people do see, they simply don’t understand. Over the years, especially when our boy Rylan was younger, we would get lots of stares, whispers, side comments and even unsolicited advice on how to be ‘good parents’.
Most of it we could ignore. But then there were times when people’s inability to see our battle would lead them to say cruel things. Once on a holiday, we were told to ‘lock up your kid’ and another time our annoyed neighbour said ‘tie him up’.
Our battle, like many families supporting loved ones with disabilities, may be unseen, but it's very real. Meltdowns and anxiety are a daily occurrence for our entire family, not just Rylan! If only those people knew that for many years, we were waking up to a soiled bed every day, in our house with broken furniture and walls – most items in our house have been damaged – including a laptop just last month!
Lots of posts on social media will say “be kind, you don’t know what people are going through” or “hang in there, parenting is hard” but there is more to it than that for families supporting people living with disabilities. There are bad days, and really bad days, when it all gets too much, when you feel alone and when all you want to do is give up, but you know you never will.
We see you.
All the mums, dads, families, and carers, we see you going into battle every day and you are not alone. We know of that special bond that only our loved ones living with a disability can inspire in us that keeps us going every day, fixing all those broken walls and furniture.
On our hardest days, we are always grateful to have found our amazing support team. They are there for Rylan, and for us. They provide more than simply just care and support, they understand and connect with us and most importantly with Rylan, improving his quality of life significantly and in a way, we would not be able to do on our own.
This is why we built Tribe. To support families who fight the unseen battles and who just need a bit of help. Let Tribe be there for you – we get it, we’ve been there. We want more families to feel the power of a supportive community, the type of Tribe we are so grateful to be part of.
We see you. You are not alone.