As a lot of folks have noted, part of the issue was Disney's policy vs. Disney's practice. Technically, at least for the past decade or so, you didn't need a DAC/DAS if you had a wheelchair, the "wheelchair was your card". However, we always got one because some CM's wanted them and it was easier than explaining at every ride that yes, we will transfer the guest ourselves, but no, the guest with us cannot "walk a few feet" or even stand on their own, as opposed to someone who just rented a Disney wheelchair for a few hours because they were tired, etc.
I don't know if it was so much "not a peep" out of folks addressing the physical mobility part of the issue - I was certainly trying to talk about it - but unfortunately, the furor over abuse was so bad that it was a lynch mob mentality - anyone who was like "hey wait a minute here" was just trampled over. There were an awful lot of folks who just were so out for blood that someone might be getting a perceived advantage over them that it was impossible to have a rational discussion about it.
As you outlined above, as I have many times to no avail, is that the "FOTL access" was NOT given to everyone with a DAC/DAS, and the places where it was were because that's how Disney chose to address the ADA. Instead of making new queues truly accessible they chose to use alternate entrances, usually somehow through the FP lane (which means, for example, although the Haunted Mansion and stretching room are easily able to be wheeled into, you have to find a really nice CM who is willing to let you do it, or you never see it as it's not SOP).
Again, though, as you pointed out - yeah, you may get loaded through a FP entrance, but quite often you have to wait for a CM to escort you (since a lot of the time it's through an exit you are forced to enter, so they won't let you unless a CM is escorting you), and then once you get inside you wait for another CM to take you to load, where you wait a third time for an accessible vehicle (if available). A number of times due to some CM miscommunication, we were left at one of the above points, patiently waiting for 15 minutes or more before we went to find someone only to find out that it was forgotten we were waiting.
I'm not complaining that it was this way (aside from being forgotten about), I'm just explaining how it was - which was far different than the perception that it was a red carpet ride to the front. Some folks may well have gotten that, but it certainly wasn't us - so it wasn't everyone. When it came down to it, under the previous system we were just about able to experience an average number of rides as everyone else. The new one, because Disney simply will not allow us to enter most queues with a wheelchair just like everyone else, even the newer attractions, means we spend half the day making appointments and waiting for them - and we can't just "go do something else" in the meantime, because everything is like this. We've stopped taking my niece - she just got so tired of sitting around it wasn't worth it to even go any more.
