I'm treated differently than my siblings

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I want to be fully independent but the idea scares me. My parents dont think I can. I just feel a bit left out in my family. My brother and sister are both fairly independent and they are younger than me. Both of them have stayed at home alone for days at a time. My parents have never allowed me to do that. I wonder if its because they dont trust me. Like this weekend they didnt let me stay alone.

Also my parents never talk about driving with me. They do with my brother and sister though. It's like they dont want me to drive. They even wondered if my brother wanted to buy a used car. Also they talk about apartments and moving out with my siblings. They dont even think I could live on my own. Also they send me away to respite care places. Then they go to caregiver support groups. I just feel weird about it because I dont know what they say about me. I feel like I have less privacy than my siblings.

My siblings had normal school experiences while I had an IEP and spent a lot of time in the special ed classroom. Sometimes I even missed regular class to do other things. I have a math learning disability so in school math was actually kind of panic inducing. I spent all of grade 9 math just sitting there feeling really stupid. It turned out I wasnt ready to learn about y=mx+b and all that stuff. I was still trying to master simple algebra and bedmas as well as long division and fractions. Also in school I was the weird kid. My siblings were both relatively popular.

My siblings also dont have to take medications or go to therapy or psychiatry appointments. They dont understand the anxiety of sitting in the waiting room feeling like everyone is staring at you and knows you're there for a mental health reason. Then drinking too much water because you cant vape and you need something in your hand or else you will start scratching yourself. They dont understand the feeling of dread when you meet a new psychiatrist.

a load of frustration and emotional pain the many of us carry, and those who don't have the same struggles will fail to understand how difficult "normal" thing continue to be for many of us all through our lives. I was left at home when the rest of the family had outings. I understand. You are not alone.

Staying home alone for a couple of days. Sooner or later you have to do that. Might as well get used to it

Driving is a life skill like cooking. However, there are plenty of reasons why not everyone drives everywhere. For example, legal (DUI), medical (not allowed to get drivers license), financial (can't afford), don't want to pollution.

In some cities the public transportation is great and driving is not convenient




Ask your parents what kind of skills you need to know to live alone, that you don't know. For example, cooking

Ask them to teach you how to cook or whatever


However there is no law that says that your parents have to treat children the same way. That is not discrimination

There is no law that says that parents have to financially support children over 18

My mother didn’t want me to drive, either….but I finally got my license at age 37.

I've been treated differently than my siblings, too. It's frustrating, especially when my siblings notice it and blame me, when I've always wanted to be treated the same and allowed to do the same things.