[aishah]

sorry, i was just editing while you were writing i hope that answers the question to some extent.

imho the method of creating 'assistance programs' that we have now is not a sustainable, interdependent way of dealing with disability. i also find it helpful to think of disability as a spectrum rather than a discrete category. the fact is, everyone has access needs - the difference between you and me is society is set up to deal with yours and not mine. in order for everyone - including disabled folks usually labeled 'low functioning' - to be included, their access needs would have to be taken into account. but that really isn't that difficult, to be honest. i do non-profit work in a community of disabled people with a huge variety of disabilities and access needs, and we get shit done. we just have patience and understanding for one another, and we don't expect each other to interact or do everything the exact same way. for example, there's a man who lives downtown in the city where i live and he is considered 'low-functioning' because he has a lot of difficulty with adls (adult daily living skills) due to his developmental disability. he would not be able to hold a job even using voc rehab services because most jobs are not willing to work with his access needs. but he does a billion different odd jobs for the stores downtown and the employees there take care of him and work with his access needs (having short, defined tasks - doing one task before being told to do the next one rather than working down a list - that sort of thing).

in my experience, the work of building supportive community among people with disabilities has a lot to do with not assuming that everyone does everything the same way and with being flexible and supportive in that way.