Back when I was in my early 20s, I worked with kids who had
   cerebral palsy. Some could not talk. It was at the cerebral
   palsy center in Union. Volunteered for about a year inbetween
   jobs.

   I set up the computers there. I set up equipment with big
   buttons and straw inputs and stuff like that. I learned the
   hardware and taught some of the teachers and kids how to use the
   stuff as best I was able to without a degree in that stuff... at
   least until the teachers could take over.

   These kids? They were smart.

   One boy who was 21 year old and ready to leave the program, I
   helped teach him how to type. One day, he typed a letter to his
   mother. Perfect spelling. Perfect grammar. A perfect letter.

   He never wrote before because his hands couldn't manage to hold
   a pen stead enough, even when he used one hand to steady the
   other.

   But for some reason, he WAS able to direct a finger at the keys
   using the other hand to steady it, with a loud PUNCH noise.

   It took him all day and it was a wonderful letter, thanking his
   mom for putting up with his disability for all those years and
   telling her she can let him go off to a half-way house and that
   he'll be fine.

   Now I'm not comparing cerebral palsy to gorillas, but your own
   ability to understand/not understand somebody is a
   communications issue, NOT a knowledge or intelligence issue.

   [sorry for the soapbox... it's just something I'm passionate
   about]