Fifteen percent of our national population has some kind of disability, yet these people are not present in our daily lives. There are opportunities available for connection, but these opportunities are not taken for their full advantage. The second level embodies the spirit of Natural Ties' mission. We exist to help end that isolation by changing the way people with and without disabilities typically interact and think about each other. People with disabilities are often included in more formal circumstances, such as work, charity and community service projects, situations where people enter into volunteer opportunities and leave at the end of the session, or further move on when the opportunity is over.
Lives continue in their separate paths after time is spent together.
In these cases, the kind of time spent dictates the relationship. The person with the disability is seen as an object of service and the relationship as a cycle of entering and leaving. We seek to raise awareness that these individuals may be living in isolation, as inclusion is not always inherent Our busy lives offer us many opportunities to visit with others. These encounters are spontaneous. They are so natural that we do not think much about their occurrence.