There is hope.
My mum always supported me, my dad took a long time to understand, but he never voiced an ignorant opinion to me. However my aunt and brother have taken a lot longer.
My aunt was a nurse and she very slowly over the last 16years has come around. She used to say that I "would just have to learn to pull myself together", that changed to, "you don't look well". My twin brother on the other hand (I'm a girl by the way, in case you think we are identical) he's still stuck, but I know one day I will get through to him. I tell my mum, I don't want to be treated with kid gloves, just respect and understanding, for example, If I say I cannot do something, accept it, move on.
This is a part of the tragedy of this disease. It damages relationships for other family members. The illness doesn't cause this, but the lies and manipulation do.
I find, that when he attempts to belittle me, I remember that I haven't given up on him, and that he isn't in on this crazy secret, that we are all keeping from so much of the world, and that I don't want to treat him the way I am being treated. Enough of that happens already.
