Thinking out loud: exploiting handicaps?

Today I watch a series called 30 days where a football player was in a wheelchair for 30 days. http://www.hulu.com/watch/23161/30-days-30-days-in-a-wheelchair#s-p1-so-i0
It was a good reminder of what growing up was like and what Mom had to go through. In the show, it was very important for 'pelegics to gain their own independance and be able to live with the handicap. But I though, Mom's independance was slowly taken away from her.
Also with everything taken into consideration for being handicap- accessability, seld care, and impressions. The world is mostly inaccessable. Just thinking about the reunion at Sherry's house. Sherry has a step from the entryway into the rest of her house. We would have had to bring her wheelchair along with motorchair. Or she would have had to come in around from the back. Then remembering the care it takes to maintain self in a wheelchair. And how accessability ties into this. Then the impressios he said he got from people even an hour after he was in the chair. Later in the show he said after his mom said I wouldn't want to ask them a question about their condition, they wouldn't like that. The football player said they would rather you ask than assume. And how true that is. I remember being young and being afraid of what those impression people had of mom in a wheelchair. It took me some time and growing up to realize how selfish this was.
There is a guy at work that is a parapalegic. He was in a four wheel accident on a trip that he won from work. Since then he has developed his own foundation to help people with spinal cord injuries with action sports. There is some controversy about the money that he raises for his foundation, and how much actually goes toward other people. Also what does go toward people, what is given toward. They give things like handicap race bikes and such. With this idea, its almost like he is then exploiting his handicap.
This really tore me apart because I have always been in support of handicapp people of all sorts, and this put something toward my support that I had never thought of. But I thought that if he was able to take such a hinderance and turn it into a benefit, seems like a important way to tackle life challenges. But is possibly exploiting your weakness, turning it into a profit, ever worth the trade to not be that way. The view change for eye level to belt level, at five year height but with wheels, impressions and stares that people give, ... Would all the money in the world makeup for lifes changes? Money would definatly make it easier to deal with, but would never satisfy with the way life was.