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The 1972 Amendments to the Economic Opportunity Act mandated that not less than 10% of the Head Start enrollment nationwide be made available to handicapped children. This article reports research evaluating the effect of the mandate during the first year of its implementation. The findings indicate reasonable progress in meeting the needs of the handicapped; however, labeling appears to have increased and serious problems remain in accommodating youngsters with severe disabilities. Recommendations for the enhancement of Head Start efforts on behalf of the handicapped are including a suggestion for reducing society's inclination to segregate or exclude children with major differences in development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The stories of people with disabilities reveal an interdependent self. • Interdependency of self has both positive and negative aspects. • Research in personality ought to examine the interdependence of self. This study examines narrative identity among a large, diverse sample of people with disabilities (PWDs) in the United States during the "second wave" of the Covid-19 pandemic (October-December 2020). The study relied on abductive analyses, combining a purely inductive phase of inquiry followed by two rounds of investigation that filtered inductive insights through three theoretical lenses: social-ecological theory, the theory of narrative identity, and perspectives from the interdisciplinary field of disability studies. The central result was the identification of a particular configuration of self, one that was demonstrably interdependent with both immediate interpersonal contexts and with broader cultural contexts. This interdependent self was interpreted in both positive and negative ways by PWDs. These findings invite future inquiry into commonplace conceptualizations of an independent self at the center of personality research and suggest that dominant conceptualizations of "the good life" may overly emphasize independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]