SPECIAL EDUCATION INTERVIEW- A FAMILY IMPACTED

Special Education Interview- A Family Impacted

By Schizoaffective Disorder
Brittany K. Bisese
Samford University

Author Note:
Brittany K. Bisese, O.B.B School of Education, Samford University
Brittany Bisese is a Junior Early Childhood, Elementary, Collaborative and Special
Education major at Samford University.

SPECIAL EDUCATION INTERVIEW- A FAMILY IMPACTED

Special Education Interview- A Family Impacted

By Schizoaffective Disorder
About 6 years ago, the interviewees brother, along with his family, moved to
a new state because of their fathers job. It was right before his last year of high
school, when he was uprooted from his close network of friends and was forced to
make all new friends. Her brother she said, was very relational and thrived off of
being around people. Yet loneliness from the move made him begin to sink into
depression. After a year, he went off to college to start his freshman year. During
this year, he struggled to adjust and make friends. He overwhelmingly felt that
people were overly focused on their studies and not on relationships. His relational
nature suffered as he grappled with feelings such as no one has time for me and I
dont matter to people. As the year went on, he fell deeper and deeper into
depression as his isolation and loneliness grew.
He decided to transfer the following year. At his new school, he had
difficulties making friends because of his depression. People perceived him as not
caring about anyone or anything and didnt want to be around him. During his
sophomore year, his condition worsened and began to have terrible mood swings.
These mood swings turned into psychotic episodes and violence, which eventually
got him expelled from college. After being expelled from school, his condition
worsened further. He began to have psychotic episodes more frequently, hear voices
in his head, and have suicidal behaviors. Also, he became increasingly violent and
suffered from a complete loss of control of his actions. After a few months of
suffering through this worsened condition at home, he was diagnosed with

SPECIAL EDUCATION INTERVIEW- A FAMILY IMPACTED

schizoaffective disorder, a disorder that encompasses schizophrenia, depression,

and bipolar disorder. Doctors found that the gene was passed on from his great
uncle. Also, the family believes that his condition was triggered by the familys move
is senior year of high school.
Once he was diagnosed, it took about a year to finally find a dosage of
medicine that kept him from having psychotic breakdowns, but didnt make him
seem like a zombie. Today, he does not have a job and lives at home with his
parents. To occupy his time he meets weekly with a basketball group, plays the
piano, volunteers at the library once a week, attends counseling multiple times a
week, and helps his parents clean the church once a week. He is able to drive to each
of these places, which his family sees as his one avenue of independence from his
family. As far as securing services for him, the interviewee did not have much to say.
She said it has not been difficult on the family, however their one struggle was
finding a counselor that he would open up to. Finally, he decided on a counselor and
the family was surprised because she is a female and he generally doesnt do well
with females.
Each member of the family had a different reaction, yet some of their
reactions overlapped. Both the father and older brother experienced a sense of
denial when their son/brothers condition began to worsen. For the father, he felt
that if he ignored the problem it would simply go away. He thought that ignoring
and hiding the issue would also cover up the guilt he felt from moving his family just
a few years back. For his older brother, the two of them had never had a good
relationship. Thus when his younger brother began to worsen in his condition, the

SPECIAL EDUCATION INTERVIEW- A FAMILY IMPACTED

older brother did not want anything to do with him. He viewed his younger
brothers condition as an excuse to not have a relationship with him. She described
it as he checked out, didnt want anything to do with him and didnt want to hear
about it.
Both his sister and mother experienced feelings of guilt, denial, longing for
the past, longing for him to change back to the way he was before he was began to
change, misunderstanding, and hurt from the things he said and did to them. Yet she
told me that as time went on, she and her mother have come to be at peace with the
permanency of his condition and both aim to ensure that his life will be as
meaningful and filled with love as possible.
As for reactions of friends and extended family, the interviewee said that
they were overall very supportive. The immediate family tried to keep the issue
hush hush for a while in hopes that it would go away. Eventually, the family finally
told friends and extended family. The extended family and friends shared a similar
reactions, support for the family, but discomfort interacting with him. She talked
about how most people would ask how the family was doing and ask to support
them but seemed to forget to talk to her brother and see how he was doing. They
forgot that he too was a person, and that it was hardest of all for him. Some still do
not know how to interact with him and choose simply not to. Yet she told me how
she wishes that they would overcome this sense of discomfort and treat him as a
regular human being.
After getting over their initial feelings, both of her parents have not stopped
fighting for her brother, especially her mom. The interviewee talked about how

SPECIAL EDUCATION INTERVIEW- A FAMILY IMPACTED

although her brother has done and said many hurtful things to them, they recognize
that it is not him acting and speaking but it is his illness. They love him
unconditionally in spite of it. The interviewee talked about how her mother devotes
so much of herself to her son and continually loves, provides for him, and ensures
his happiness each day.
Her biggest message that she wanted to pass onto other people is the
importance of recognizing that people with disabilities as people too, wanting to be
treated with respect and dignity. She talked about how people often think to ask
how the family of someone with a disability is doing. Yet they seldom ask how the
person with the disability is doing. They think about how hard it must be for the
family to deal with something like this on a daily basis; yet he lives in fear of his
mind every day and never knows what will happen next. She said, the most
important thing anyone can do for someone with a disability is to treat him or her
with respect, as one should treat any person. Everyone should strive to ensure that
the person feels loved, accepted, and treated like an equal. Each person has value
and purpose and deserves love and recognition.