Son Infuriates Parents By Telling Them He Won't Be A Carer For His Two Disabled Siblings

Despite how much one loves their friends or family, sacrificing certain things in life—getting an education or starting a family, for instance—in order to care for them might not be something they’re willing to do.

This redditor wasn’t willing to give up his future so he can be a carer of his two siblings with disabilities. Unfortunately, his parents couldn’t see his point of view, as they’ve always viewed him mainly as someone who’ll care for their other two children in the future.

Be it a family member, a friend, or other person they provide assistance for, millions of people nowadays are carers to someone with a disability. Divided between informal caregivers (individuals who are unpaid; for example, a spouse, a friend, or a family member) and formal caregivers (those who get paid for providing care), together they comprised roughly 43.5 million caregivers back in 2015, Family Caregiver Alliance reports.

Half a decade later, in 2020, the number of caregivers grew to 53 million; and by 2030, it is estimated that 73 million people (in the US alone) will be 65 years or older, many of whom will need daily assistance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests, meaning that the number of caregivers is likely to continue to grow.

Caregivers spend countless hours looking after others, and while to some it’s a job, others do it out of the kindness of their hearts. (According to the CDC, if purchased, the care that is now provided by unpaid caregivers would cost roughly $470 billion a year.) In 2023, people providing care for those in need of assistance would spend an average of 26 hours per week doing that, Guardian reports; roughly half would spend somewhere between 10 and 29 hours a week providing care, while more than one-in-four (27%) would spend as much as 30 hours or more.

Spending 30 hours a week providing care for someone leaves a person nearly as busy as one with a full-time job. While some people are willing and able to sacrifice certain opportunities in their careers or personal lives, others simply aren’t; often because caring for another human being is not only time-consuming, but both physically and emotionally challenging, too.

A study on family health, functioning, and care burden in families with special needs children found that parents who take care of their disabled children tend to be drained physically and don’t have the energy to do the things they liked to do, nor do they have enough time for chores. Mentally they are reportedly frustrated, anxious, and angry; they feel helpless and hopeless, and worried about numerous things from medications and treatments to the effect the child's condition might have on other family members.

In the OP’s case, the parents were focused more on the effect—or lack thereof—the child with no disability might have on his disabled siblings. The redditor wasn’t willing to skip college or the chance of starting his own family because his parents relied on him to take care of his siblings; that’s why he suggested that they find an alternative solution for long-term care. And the online community seemingly supported his decision, as they pointed out that said siblings were not his responsibility and that he was his own human, not just a part of some plan.