Worked several years with some handicapped folks and they were fiercely independent. Wanted help from no one, and did not want special treatment. They accepted their disabilities, but did not accept their status as handicapped. Earned my respect for sure. One of my friends insisted of climbing up the steps to my house in the dead of winter when we could have easily carried him in his chair. Perhaps he was crazy, but he knew we respected him for his tenacious clinging to being normal.