 Subsidizing third-party assistance is a means by which the state can help to create the conditions for the flourishing of positive relationships. The provision of paid third-party assistance is not intended to force the separation of instrumental help from close relationships, but to give friends and family members the freedom to decide how much of such assistance they want to incorporate into their relationships. Friends and family members may be entirely comfortable meeting someone’s disability-specific needs, just as they are prepared to meet other needs of the people with whom they have intimate relationships (Asch 1993). In other cases, and with respect to other needs, they may not. Close relationships are not all of a piece, and persons with disabilities, their friends, family members, and lovers should be able to determine for themselves what kind of relationship they will have and what role there is in it for third-party assistance.