It is with hesitance that I chime in as I am sure my opinion will not be the popular one. Frank, I thought your posts were well said. It is an honest and respectful voice from the "other" side of the argument. "MrRomance" I thought what you said was also bang on.
My son who is now 17, has been going to WDW since he was 3. Many of our trips from 3-9 years I was solo with him. He has Autism, Bi Polar, Sensory issues, and a few other things thrown in for good measure! We continued to go to Disney year after year, often more than once a year, because as he put it in later years "Disney makes me feel normal". Part of this was the GAC, but it was also the cast members as well. We have had more than our fair share of freak outs and melt downs. One time I had to sit in the middle of main street holding his head while he screamed and cried so he would stop banging it off the ground...as the fireworks ended. He was 5, he couldn't deal with the crowds. A CM saw us, 4 of them created a protective cocoon around us. They stood with their backs to us out of respect, while everyone else stared in judgement. These weren't security or supervisors, one was crowd control, she then called 2 grounds keepers and someone from the popcorn stand to assist. You see it is not policy, or the GAC or corporate rules that made our experience so wonderful. It was the many, many cast members we would meet trip after trip that went above and beyond what was required.
Disney is where he learned to make eye contact and strike up an appropriate conversation with others--he did this through Pin Trading. It is where he learned to order his own meal in a restaurant. It is where he started to learn about money and budgeting with his $10 a day for souvenir's!
The thing is I believe any accommodation my son gets should be to level the playing field, to give him the same access as everyone else. Nothing less, nothing more. We used the GAC for years when we needed it and eventually weaned him off of it. Not always, but often the GAC gave us an advantage over other guests. We could walk on through the fast pass line, or through an exit. We didn't ask for this, but it was readily provided. Other times it allowed us a quiet place to wait for an attraction or character meet. Sometimes we waited longer than we would have otherwise, but we needed that separate place to wait.
Disney's GAC system took on a life of its own. It went far and beyond what was required and what was being done by anyone else. I also believe it evolved beyond its original purpose. There is a reason many of us take our special needs children and family members to Disney, there is no other place we can go that does what they do. I have travelled with my son to many different places as he has gotten older, most make no accommodations for us at all. Even with the proposed changes, Disney will be head and shoulders above what others are doing.
Eventually, we started taking the GAC away for one attraction at a time until we started not getting it at all. Like any accommodation he has had since he was 3 years old until now at 17...we use it while we need it or until he starts to treat the accommodation as a crutch. I refuse to allow him to get the sense of "entitlement" I have seen in other families we know. His conditions are not an excuse for anything, sometimes an explanation but never an excuse!
Typically we need an accommodation until we find a way for him to develop the necessary skill. He can learn most anything, it sometimes takes us longer to get there, or we have to figure out a different way to do it. He may never learn the skill to the same level as his peers or be able to practice the skill without reminders and modelling....but that's okay. My job is to prepare him for the real world as not everywhere in the real world is prepared for him!
- Thank you!
I can tell I would love him to pieces!
I'm sure we will be splitting up a lot just to make everyone happy, but there are also plenty of things to do at Disney that we should be able to do together, that everyone can enjoy. 
