Alison Barclay

Living life with your brother who has autism is a life only someone in your shoes will understand and relate to. The moments in public, the bullies, the mocking, the staring, the routines and rules like most homes don't have. The sibling disagreements, just in a different way on a different level. The feeling of relief and almost love for others who accept your brother for who he is - I've faced it all. The bond, if created, is as unconditional as a parent and child. The trust that you build in one another never to be broken.

The hours of silence but the appreciation of one another and understanding that silence really is golden. The knowing how each other is feeling or thinking without even having to say it.

The rare glances into one another's eyes, and the even rarer words exchanged, but all the time the knowing that the love between each other is a special one that, unless you have it, no-one will ever understand and nobody can ever take it away. That bond if you're lucky like I am to have is so special, so sincere. It has made me the selfless person I am today and as much as I've sat and cried, never understanding why, thinking it's not fair that my brother has autism, the heightened responsibility I took upon myself at a young age to protect my brother - all of this and I have one thing to thank him for and that is he has made me the person I am and I'm proud to owe him that. Proud he is my brother. Proud of all his achievements: proud and blessed. We are all put on this earth in all capacities for a reason and you, my brother, are one of mine.