I think each guest needs have to be assessed individually as to how they can best be accommodated. It is not a cookie cutter thing. And the hardest thing about it is I do not look like I am handicapped at all. They see someone who looks quite well, and speaks very normally and never realize I am hard of hearing as well as have mobility issues.
I agree totally with Lisa here. If it is just a "you are in a wheelchair, this is what happens", that will not take care of the individual needs of people. One person using a wheelchair
might be fully capable of waiting in the standby lines, getting fastpasses, etc. To let that person use the fastpass lines without getting fastpasses encourages other people to abuse the system. The Unofficial Guide has always "wink, wink" suggested that.
The years that my DD was just looked at as a "Guest in a Wheelchair, you need to wait in the Mainstream lines," were the most miserable trips of our lives. Yes, she has a wheelchair, but she has multiple disabilities, including ADD, seizures, inability to tolerate heat and sun and some obsessive, compulsive behaviors that can make waiting in lines with her an extreme challenge. You can't relax in line when people keep cutting off your path (they don't understand that a wheelchair needs some room to get around corners) and you are worried about whether your child will hit or pinch the other guests because they touched her wheelchair. We actually had CMs tell us we needed to get a GAC because they saw what a hard time we were having in line, even GIVING us slips of paper with their name on to give to Guest Relations. WHen we got to Guest Relations we were told they could not give a GAC to a person in a wheelchair because she could wait in the Mainstream Lines. Those years involved a lot of tears - and not just from my DD.
People with multiple challenges can't be accomidated if only one challenge is considered. The way to handle that is with GACs where someone actually has to go to Guest Services and explain their needs. Just because someone happens to be using a wheelchair doesn't necessarily mean that they need to have the level of accomidation that a GAC provides. Even when we have gone during Spring break, we have not used our DD's GAC for every ride. We have used fastpass when we could; we have waited in the Mainstream line when the line was 15 minutes or less; we have not gone on rides where the line was long. We maybe only use the GAC once or twice a day sometimes, but JUST having it makes our trip more relaxed because we know it is there if we need it.
Someone who is able to walk, but not distances, probably won't be waiting for the special wheelchair car like Michigan's DDs and my DD do. That person might be able to board the ride as soon as they get to the boarding area and won't be waiting any extra time compared to an ambulatory person. But, I think anyone who uses the wheelchair cars has also had the experience of watching the people who were just ahead of them in line finish the ride and get off while you are still waiting at the exit to get ON.
We've also had the experience of coming back for our fastpass time for shows and finding that all the wheelchair seats are already taken for that show - so we had to wait for the next one.
A person in a wheelchair or
ecv who can transfer fairly easily and does not really require help from their companions getting out of the wheelchair is going to have a much less tired group of people at the end of the day than those of us who have a difficult time transferring or have to physically lift the person using the wheelchair for every transfer. We have to pace ourselves during the day and kind of go with the flow - are we too tired to go on another ride where we need to tranfer or not. I'm not getting any younger and lifting my DD (at 85 pounds) in and out of her wheelchair several times a day to use the bathroom plus many times a day for rides tends to tire me out in the Florida heat more than it does here in the Minnesota cold.
Also, there are a number of us who can't get to the parks early because of the amount of care that their person with a disability requires. Because of not being able to get there early, we were not able to get fastpasses for Test Track until 2 years after it opened. And, even if we get a fastpass, we might not be able to use it. If my DD has a seizure or she gets overheated and is as limp as a ragdoll, we are pretty much done for the day. At the very least, we can't do any rides that require a transfer.
I also know some people with disabilities who do not need and (almost militantly) don't want any special treatment. They feel it is demeaning to them to treat them any differently than the ambulatory public. As long as they have access, that's all they want and need. They would certainly not be happy to find themselves being given any special treatment just because they are traveling on wheels.
So, one size does not fit all.