The Sibling Leadership Network
http://www.siblingleadership.org

About Us

Mission, Purpose, and Core Values

The Sibling Leadership Network is an organization of siblings dedicated to the promotion of family support and empowerment for people with disabilities across the lifespan.

Sibling Leadership Network Mission Statement:

The mission of the Sibling Leadership Network is to provide siblings of individuals with disabilities the information, tools, and guidance to advocate with/for their brothers and sisters and to take on leadership roles in the communities and within the field of developmental disabilities. The Sibling Leadership Network consists of individual and state groups that come together and meet to develop yearly action plans to support family policy initiatives.

Purpose:

The purpose of the Sibling Leadership Network is to promote a network of siblings who share the experience of disability and connect them to social, emotional, governmental, and provisional supports across the lifespan so siblings can be better advocates with their brothers and sisters with disabilities.

Core Values/Beliefs:

This group holds the following core values:

  1. We value family support in its fullest extent. This means that siblings need to be involved to the fullest extent they can be/wish to be
  2. We believe that brothers and sisters have a unique understanding/perspective of the oppression of people with disabilities.
  3. We value self-determination of our brothers and sisters with disabilities and vow to support them in being as independent as possible
  4. We believe in the “dignity of risk.” This means that we value providing our siblings with opportunities to try things out- even if it means failure- as long as they have the necessary supports to do so.

Sibling Leadership Network Listserv

The Sibling Leadership Network Listserv is intended to provide the framework for promoting sibling leaders and information exchange. As indicated in the welcome message to the Sibling Listserv, the primary focus of this list is to:

  • provide updates on the activities of the Sibling Leadership Network
  • provide input on what policy issues the sibling leadership network should be focusing on
  • announce upcoming sibling-related events
  • discuss how to better advocate with/for people with disabilities
  • support sibling research efforts