Disability IS an attitude

Last week i attended a protecting and safeguarding children training course from work, it deals with some pretty heavy stuff, and some of it can get quite disturbing...but the thing that struck me most of all wasn't the horrific ways that some children are treated (although it was disturbing), in fact it was one tiny statement the tutor said that hit me like a slap in the face. It was an extremely minor part of the course and was only mentioned once during the two sessions, it was "disability is an attitude". As soon as these words tumbled out of the tutors mouth i could see a memory playing back in my mind, like a film. It was at college and i was leaving the study area, i can't remember why i was there or why i left, but i was on my own. I was walking through the swing doors and allowed them to close behind me, as i walked down the corridor, a girl in a wheel chair was going the opposite direction, towards the study area, i looked back and saw her stop at the door, i then turned around and went back to open the door for her. I thought i was helping someone out, the thing i least expected was to hear "i can open a door you know" even though she said it with a friendly smile, she spoke in an almost patronising manner. At the time i was gob smacked, first at the fact that she said that but then at the fact that she was so damn right. Yet when i think about it, she had every right to speak to me in a patronising manner, she probably gets people assuming she can't do something every day of her life. We automatically assume that because someone is "disabled" they are incapable or incapacitated. I was so wrong in assuming she couldn't open the door, it's unbelievable. Just because she was in a wheel chair that doesn't mean she couldn't use her arms, in fact if she had no/little use of her legs she probably developed excellent use of her arms. Same with blind people, if they cannot see then they probably have a far superior sense of smell or touch. I think the word "disable" itself is incorrect, people who are labeled as such aren't "disable" in fact they are perfectly able they just develop other ways of doing things. Disability is definitely an attitude created by society.