I think that&#x27;s actually a very good question. Intuitively I&#x27;d say no, people with clear medical issues and resulting dependency <i>are</i> adults.<p>But on the other hand, I&#x27;m much more inclined to consider that people with psychological issues and resulting dependencies are not always adults. It&#x27;s purely a feeling, by the way. I can&#x27;t quite justify it.<p>I think the crucial part is visibility and understanding. If we can understand the mechanism, or see the disability, it&#x27;s easier to accept that it&#x27;s not a choice, and that they do the best they can within their limits. They are as independent as they can be, and really, aren&#x27;t we all quite dependent in the end? I mean, if society were to collapse I&#x27;d probably die pretty quickly as I have no clue how to survive in any kind of &#x27;nature&#x27;.<p>But then, as a disability become less visible, or harder to understand, we have a tendency to not be so lenient.<p>So at some point on the spectrum we might have Lupus, which (afaik) is understood but not visible. We might sometimes get frustrated at the limitations of someone suffering from this, but we still see them as adults (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.butyoudontlooksick.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;written-by-christine&#x2F;the-spoon-theory&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.butyoudontlooksick.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;written-by-christ...</a>).<p>Then there&#x27;s ME, which has for a long time been treated as a psychosomatic issue. It wasn&#x27;t&#x2F;isn&#x27;t well understood and the symptoms appear somewhat randomly and seem to be just &#x27;tiredness&#x27;. A family member of mine had this and sometimes I noticed it was difficult for us, the family members, to sympathize and not feel like she was a bit whiny and childish.<p>And then we have something like depression, personality disorders, or developmental disorders, which very often causes intense frustration, or anger in the surrounding people. I know a few people suffering from ADD, autism, and bipolar disorder, and they get very little sympathy.