This paper argues that the philosophic assumptions underlying full inclusion efforts for students with severe disabilities and other restructuring movements are actually barriers to "best practice" implementation, and an alternative perspective based on social relations is offered. First two different perspectives on disability, the "different person" perspective (which sees differences as inherent and immutable) and the rights perspective (which views all individuals as entitled to the same rights, services, and outcomes) are compared. Both perspectives are seen to result in a dilemma and be inappropriate to guide current restructuring. In contrast, the social relations perspective views differences in the context of relationships which are expected to change with time or as the comparison basis changes. This perspective is applied to a case in which an emphasis on gender differences in provision of maternity leave is replaced with relation-based provision of parental or family leave. Other examples apply the social relations perspective to inclusion of students with severe disabilities and the provision of bilingual/bicultural education to all students and not just to the Spanish-speaking minority. (Contains 15 references.) (DB)