Thanks, Flaps, but you have not really addressed my question.
For example, I used the euphemism "tired" to describe pax who are out of their skull. Some I have seen would require quite a dose of adrenalin to get them going. There are of course those on the last leg of a major journey, who may just be "tired" in the classic sense.
I was not looking for support for my preference to sit in an exit row, which often confers better leg room, (useful for somebody with a physical handicap), but really my question was to do with the philosophy of denying an exit row seat to somebody with mobility difficulties (I prefer not to be PC and freely state that I am crippled).
If I could not heave open the door, then it would of course be a major snag. But I can.
Now, I know that the CC cannot make that kind of assessment as PAX enter the plane, and they follow their training. I have no complaints whatsoever on that level.
I am not the kind of passenger who tries to take over the responsibilities and authority of the CC, nor challenge their legitimate commands.
As a passenger with well over one million kilometers of air travel behind me and quite a few miles in my pilot's logbook, before I was disabled, I am merely musing about what is the ideal?
A pissed, but otherwise able bodied, PAX next to an exit, or a sober, experienced, well informed, but limping PAX?