Aditya, 17, from Kingston in London has been a carer for his brother Gautam, 11, since a young age. Gautam has a number of special needs including autism that mean he needs help doing pretty much everything from showering to eating. Aditya has always cared for his brother and the time he spends caring often increases during school holidays when his parents need to work.
Despite the increasing time caring took as he grew older, Aditya says it took years for him to be identified as a young carer. He explained:
“It was something that I just did naturally. Nobody comes up to you and tells you you’re a carer. You only get the diagnosis, nothing more than that. Then you just start caring and it becomes integrated into your lifestyle. I didn’t realise I was a young carer until I was told I was by someone from Carers Trust.”
His responsibilities have grown over the years and that can eat into the amount of free time he has. He is supported by the staff at Kingston Carers Network.
Aditya said: “Now I’m older, my parents trust me to look after him more. Those caring activities take up a lot of time on a day to-day basis. I’ve become used to it and I’ve become quite good at it, if I do say so myself. But it’s a challenge to balance it. The amount of free time I get can be limited. I play sports and do music and other things but trying to balance it all and not having much free time is a challenge that a lot of other people my age don’t have.”
He added: “It’s given me a real purpose. Having someone to look after in the future drives me to do my best so I can look after him. Also keeping him happy is a reward, even though it’s very challenging.”
“But the caring system as a whole seems sub-par. When I’m a working adult, that’s something I’m going to have to consider as we both get older. I’m going to have to think about both our futures. That’s something most people my age don’t need to think about.”
With thanks to Aditya and Carers Trust for this story.