Motivation and Individuals with Intellectual Disability

I'm studying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in a class I'm taking. The idea is that certain human needs have to be met before the person can grow as a human. The needs one has to go through in order are:

Physiological
Safety and Security
Love and Belonging
Self-Esteem
Self-Actualization

Ideally, we humans would be motivated to go through all stages but apparently it is rare for someone to be self-actualized.

Not that I am going to do justice to this theory but....

We first need our physiological needs met before we can look for safety and security. This means we need food, water, air - things that assure we stay alive.

With those being met, we can look for safety and security - shelter, money, being free from harm and anxiety. Once we've got that we can look for...

Love and belonging - close friendships, sexual intimacy, loving family, and a general sense of belonging.

With those in place, we are motivated to look for esteem - being respected by others, making important contributions, confidence, and self-respect.

And then we can look for self-actualization - realizing our potential.

So why do I write of this when considering people with intellectual disabilities? Well, if Maslow's theory has any merit at all, we are missing the boat when we are working with people with developmental disabilities. We seem perfectly content and consider it a good day if we provided good food, warm clothes, and kept the individuals safe. Routinely, we do a nice job meeting the first two needs on the hierarchy (although we do have arguments from time to time as to how to implement those food and safety parameters). What about the other three, though? Love and belonging is tough. Some of them do feel a lack in their lives that they haven't married, had children, don't have close family, don't have physically intimate relationships, and don't feel they belong. Then for the need for esteem, they don't generally feel respected by others I don't think. How can they when they are so often told how to do things properly and corrected for how they are doing it?  They don't often have opportunities to build their confidence or make contributions because we are so busy happily doing things for them. Which means they aren't even ready to realize their potential, much as that truly is our goal for them. Ooops, and look what I wrote: "our goal for them." What about their goals for them?

I'm just musing. As I studied this motivation theory with a mind toward equality for all, I wondered what it would take to have all humans regarded with the same outlook and to be encouraging those other needs for individuals with disabilities. Not just the basic needs. All of us belonging, respected, and reaching our potential.