The sibling perspective: Avi and Simcha
This edition of Inspirations celebrates siblings and their special bonds. In the winter, we reached out to the community for volunteers who would be willing to tell us about their sibling relationships.
My brother Simcha
I am the sixth child of 11. There are seven boys and four girls in my family. Simcha is the third oldest and was diagnosed with autism at an early age. Although he is several years older than me, I spent a lot of time with him going on outings.
Not only did we have 13 people living in our home, we often had many visitors.
Our house was always quite chaotic, but chaos also means fun and excitement (sometimes)! We grew up Orthodox Chabad. We did not have a TV in our home, and we observed strict Jewish laws and traditions.
We did have a computer in the basement, which we regularly fought over! Simcha loved to play different computer games on it. He also loved his Hot Wheels cars, particularly the police and ambulance vehicles.
Simcha always enjoyed observing many of the Jewish customs and rituals. He enjoyed going to synagogue. I would usually walk my brother there on Saturday morning. Shabbat meant that we did not use electricity, and it was the one time a week where we all sat together at the table.
While he did attend the Summit School program, we did not have the many programs and resources for special needs individuals as we do today.
Although challenging, having a special needs brother taught me many important life skills, like how to be patient, caring and empathetic. I took the Miriam Home support worker training and eventually completed a special care counseling program. Now I work as a behavioural technician.
I also started a “Special Care Counselling jobs and opportunities” Facebook page that helps individuals in the field find employment.
Simcha currently resides at a Miriam Home residence. Having such a huge family (we now count 22 grandchildren and one great-grandchild) means that he always has an event or dinner to attend. As a family we do our best to include him in any family event, which he always seems to enjoy.
– by Simcha’s brother, Avi Tanny
