If she can transfer herself from a wheelchair to a commode, she can stay alone during the day. It is for these reasons that rehabilitation staff work so hard on a patient's mobility. That which makes us most human may be our ability to form relationships. We may not always form satisfactory relationships, but at least the potential is there. We have peers, colleagues, buddies, lovers and spouses.
Disabled individuals see the triangle fractured in two ways.
Previous relationships may shatter because the foundations upon which they were built have been altered through physical, behavioral or cognitive changes. That which a partner loved most may no longer be present and that which she liked the least may now be exaggerated. The ability to form new relationships may be altered by being thrown into a different peer group of the physically or mentally disabled. The friends who visited him in the hospital have now retreated to the safe haven of their peer group. The social fabric that was once tightly woven starts to unravel and the quality supplied through social relationships is diminished.