I would say to these people that it is really a matter of perception, the world has recently lost one of the greatest minds ever in that of Stephen Hawking a profoundly disabled genius.

I and many others have profound disabilities but above average abilities, I spent 4 years in a hospital without formal schooling, aged from 10 until I was 14, I was very sick I could not talk or walk but I could read, I read doctors books well ahead of my age, when released from hospital after my 14 birthday I was assessed with UE level reading and advanced understanding and practical abilities well ahead of others my age

It was 1974 despite my abilities I was disabled so was sent to a primary school for 5 to 18 yo disabled children. In 1974 they had backwards thought. I was soon moved to a normal school Mt Roskill Grammar in Auckland. I was one of the first disabled in New Zealand to be mainstreamed into NZ schools, part of the reason is that even at 14 years old I was capable of preparing a legal case against the government to tell them I had a right to attend a normal school.

My first job aged 16 involved assembling mainframe computers and as an industrial wireman, I would pre wired computer frames the size of a fridge with up to 8000 connections, no mistakes allowed.

I have been writing HTML coding for 30 years, they teach that in school now.