"I can’t imagine having a plain old sister," writes ten-year-old Ryan Clearwater. He is one of 45 siblings in Views From Our Shoes who share their experience as the brother or sister of someone with a disability.

The children whose essays are featured here range in age from four to eighteen and are the siblings of children with a wide variety of special needs including autism, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, ADD, hydrocephalus, vision loss, hearing impairments, Down syndrome, and Tourette syndrome.