This is an interpretivist qualitative study that explores the contexts and dynamics of friendships among three groups of young adults; each group included an individual with autism or severe disability and high school students without disabilities. Data were collected through ethnographic methods where friends interacted together. Particular attention was paid to how friendships were enacted when one individual does not speak, struggles with initiation or movement, experiences anxiety, and/or uses a wheelchair. Students without disabilities tended to provide more of the help in these relationships to sustain their connection as friends and maintain opportunities to interact. The findings include examples and discussions of how the students with and without disabilities enacted their meaningful relationships.
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