Why is the need for a wheelchair considered a disablilty

Why do we define someone in a wheelchair as disabled?
People can use a wheelchair and work, have been able to for years. My wife did over 20 years ago, and she was classed as a model employee. She never used a sick day in all the time we were together. She always did her job and had a smile and a kind word for the people she came in contact with. In my wife’s case she could crawl, would the world have treated her different if she had, instead of using a wheelchair .

A job was offered to me by a man who owned a pharmaceutical company he was also wheelchair bound. It was not possible for me to take the job he offered as the cost of getting back and forth to work was so high it wouldn’t have been worth it. Moving closer to this job was not an option. It requires a lot of social capital when both husband and wife are wheel chair bound, this was available in the town where we lived in as both mothers lived there. My wife had two brothers who lived there also and one of my half brothers was in and out.

A friend of mine works at the local library she hasn’t been able to walk for years. Her smile and quiet words make a trip to the library special for everyone who meet her. She is especially good with children, seeing her answer their questions and watching them walk away giggling is something to see.

Many times in my life the saying “but for Gods grace” was brought to my attention. What sin could an eight year old do which would put her in an iron lung for over a year then a wheelchair for the rest of her life. What is the sin of a child born with any disease which make them wheelchair bound.

Was it Gods lack of grace which has any of us in a wheelchair or is it his grace that lets us live and be a wanted and needed part in the society we share. People who are true Christians never seem to see a wheelchair and about every door that has been open to me has been by people of faith. There were two pastors who had me working with the children of their fellowships. A year and a half was spent getting me prepared to teach so they felt the children of the flock were in good hands. The fact my eye height in the chair is the same as an average ten year old was a great help. When you look children in the eye at their level they are more likely to listen.

The internet they say is the great equalizer, as long as you can find a way to put something on the screen which is of interest to someone, your in. If you hadn’t been told a wheelchair replaces my legs would you know? Does it or should it matter? In reality we only want and need the same things everyone else does.