The car talk guys are funny, I wouldn't persay just trust them completely, a lot of their stuff is just banter, I'm surprised they still be around, back to the main topic though, I don't quite understand what you are going for here. Working at a shop is not ideal, but you want to go to school for auto mechanics? What do you mean by that? Like self start business? It's pretty hard to self start, especially if you have no experience or someone to guide you if mistakes be made, and they inevitably will be made as a fresh technician.

And if you don't mind, what is the disability? Is it a mental thing since you say you are working on mental health? (Good on ya) or something else? As for schools, the best education is one that is hands on for this field, community college will be the cheapest option (idk where you at, this is what I did) if they got a auto program there. If you are looking at specifically auto schools... I personally don't trust em. They are suppose to hear you into working for a shop right away but I have plenty of friends who went to places like UTI and haven't had good experiences. The other option would be to work your way up but you said you don't want to work at a shop, so idk.