A selfless schoolgirl who looks after her disabled brother has opened up about her life as a young carer to shine a spotlight on Carers Week.
Heather Mckinlay, 12, from Ayr, helps to look after her younger brother, Connor, who suffers from cerebral palsy.
Heather helps full-time carer mum Shona and dad Billy, a warehouse supervisor, to supervise 11-year-old Connor at all times as he is non-verbal, wheelchair-bound and has no danger awareness.
Heather says looking after her younger brother is all she’s “ever known and it’s just normal to me”.
She said: “It’s not something that bothers me though because Connor makes me really happy.
“I think I do have more worries than most children my age. I think about Connor a lot when he’s at school in case something happens to make him unhappy.”
Mum-of-two Shona, 45, says Connor dotes on his big sister, who she says always puts Connor first.
Shona said: “Connor adores Heather and she feels the same about him. He always comes first in her book, but we make sure she knows that there’s nothing she has to do at home.
“It’s not her job or responsibility; it’s mine and her dad’s. We certainly have our disagreements- as with any other 12-year-old - but she just gets on with it, 99 percent of the time with a smile on her face.
“She’s amazing. She worries about what will happen in five or ten years’ time. Heather says things like she will go to the local university when the time comes so she can stay near to Connor.
“She always has him at the back of her mind, but we do everything we can to take the weight away from her.”
Outside of school, Heather attends Girl Guides and is active with South Ayrshire Young Carers.
She recently helped work on and present an awareness raising fictional film ‘The Weekend’, which tells the story of three young carers and how their caring roles impact them in different ways over the space of a single weekend.
In partnership with the local film-making social enterprise, The Iris, South Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership (SAHSCP) and South Ayrshire Council’s Thriving Communities team commissioned the film to give unpaid young carers in the area the opportunity to tell their own stories and share their experiences.
Claire Flanagan, Young Carers Strategy Lead Officer at SAHSCP, who led on the development of the film, said: “Although each storyline is fictitious, this film is absolutely based on fact- experiences bravely shared by the young people involved in this project.
“It has been a privilege working with them and I am incredibly proud of what they have achieved.
“I am so proud of Heather and all of our young carers who bravely share their lived experiences to help other young people self-identify as young carers, and also to give peers and adults an insight into what it’s really like to be a young carer.”
Elena Whitham MSP, the new Minister for Drugs & Alcohol Policy, attended a “wonderful afternoon” viewing of the film on Monday and said on Twitter: “Grateful to see young carers of family members who use substances shown as this helps to tackle stigma.”
• For a full list of free events to mark Carers Week 2023 in South Ayrshire, visit South Ayrshire Carers Centre on Facebook.
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