Michael Riley
Sometimes Michael finds it difficult to be one of two kids who people treat as though they were the same person. When people say, “There go the twins!” instead of, “There’s Mark and Michael,” Michael and Mark are especially upset. And like most twins, Michael and Mark both work at being viewed as separate individuals by the adults and children around them.
One of the first things Michael and Mark rebelled against was allowing their grandmother to dress them alike. “Grandma used to buy us identical clothes for birthdays and Christmas,” says Michael, “but when we told her we liked looking different, she understood. She doesn’t do that anymore.”
A fifth grader and a boy scout, Mike is gentle but frank, sensitive and sincere. Michael is an extroverted, dramatic, curious, sensitive kid. He is an “individual” who is close to his twin brother, but not tied to him. Michael represents the concerns, problems, and rewards of being a sibling of a child with a disability.
Mike is featured in The Kids on the Block Program on Being the Sibling of a Child who has a Disability.
Mike also appears in the programs on aging, healthy snacking, and organ donation and transplant.
