I think respect is tremendously important. We don't all have the same abilities or the same skills, but we are all people worthy of respect.
I remember Flowers for Algernon as a really pessimistic book. It's so bleak and I think it sets up a kind of weird choice between being oblivious and happy, on the one hand, and being "too smart" and lonely, on the other hand.
I know people think there was something beautiful in the protagonist's innocent happiness as a disabled person. I just could never get past the sadness of it. If I remember right, the guys who worked with him made fun of him for wetting his pants or for becoming visibly aroused when a woman walked in. He was a running joke.
I wouldn't want that kind of friendship for anyone I love...I wouldn't even want an animal to be treated that way. I'm not saying we are always going to be perfectly understood, but nobody should be the constant butt of jokes.