 These challenges persist into adulthood. When disabled people form intimate relationships with other adults, cultural stereotypes and prejudices continue to exact a high cost. Disabled people are often expected to be “with their own kind”, and if they do form intimate relationships with unimpaired people, they must confront patronizing assumptions about the “real” reasons for the relationship: dependency, pity, etc.. When disabled people form intimate relationships with one another, they must overcome psychological barriers to intimacy that result from society’s views about what an appropriate partner would be or what acceptable sexual activity is. Or they must battle family opposition to being with a partner whose similar or different disability prevents that partner from assuming the role of “caregiver” or personal assistant. Emens (2009) shows how institutional practices, along with physical and communication barriers, perpetuate and reinforce prevailing views that people with disabilities will be incapable of participating in sexual and partner relationships. 