Right, and Stephen Hawking is practically in a locked-in state and wildly successful, but only one person can sit in the Lucasian chair at a time.
Holding up the few disabled people who manage to launch successful careers then telling the rest of the multitude “why can’t you do this well?” isn’t at all helpful. Disabled people are at a sharp disadvantage in the job market and they will be less likely to be hired at all levels. They will need more education just to get a foot in the door.
I don’t, actually, know why etv78 didn’t go to college but without a degree he is essentially unemployable in today’s market. My spouse managed to go to college… but it took him longer than 4 years to get his degree. It certainly didn’t help that back then it was legal to deny people scholarships or financial aid based on disability, so at least that’s changed for the better. There were several jobs where he was hired only to learn later he was being paid half what the able-bodied doing the same job were. Looking for work in this area he has been told, flat out, several times that the company doesn’t hire “cripples” or “gimps”, which of course is illegal but when it’s one person’s word against another’s there’s little recourse. Keep in mind, my spouse isn’t nearly as disabled as the OP and that’s what he’s been up against all his life.
So yes, your high school counselor was one of the lucky ones, but look at the reality of quads and damn few of them ever work. Same for paraplegics. The odds are probably slightly higher for people who were able-bodied then became disabled because they at least have some sort of work record to hold up.
It’s comparable to, say, actors. While there are a few big-name successes something like 95%+ actors don’t ever actually make their living acting, they have second jobs waiting tables or bartending or some such. That’s the reality of life - damn few make to the big time. Except nobody chooses to be disabled and you can’t suddenly decided midlife to do something with your life other than being disabled like an actor can go back to school and get a nursing degree or something.
The vast majority of disabled people can’t find work, and the more disabled they are the worse it is. If etv78 lived next door to me I’d like to be able to hire him but I’d have to ask what job skills he has, and there’s the additional complication that our production machine is up a flight of stairs which presents a definite navigational problem as there is no way to fit a lift into this nearly century old building. OK, maybe we can arrange for him to work from home but what skills does he have? Can he do small business bookkeeping? Answer the phone? Can he do design work? Maybe if we were able to re-locate to a grade-level shop we could hire him to work the machine, as all the controls and everything are accessible to a seated operator (because my spouse, who can’t stand very long, designed it that way) which would be grand but unfortunately it’s not feasible right now. A damn shame, too, as we would definitely be understanding of etv78’s issues due to his disability but we can’t redesign the building we’re in and we don’t live next door to him.
Fact is, society presents enormous obstacles to him finding work. Holding up the example of a quad who’s a high school counselor or a blind lawyer or whatever isn’t going to change that. If the businesses where he lives aren’t willing to hire him at a living wage (and it does cost more to survive when you’re disabled due to additional costs the able-bodied don’t have to deal with) then either society needs to fund his acquisition of employment skills, or subsidize him to the extent that he need not starve to death or die of a bladder infection or pressure sore, and, oh yes, have some minimal entertainment so he doesn’t go crazy. You know, at least as well as we house minimum security prisoners. Anything less is a terrible injustice.