My Father, who suffered from a stroke so was clearly disabled, joined us on a family vacation to Florida. We had booked a wheelchair in advance and also paid for First so he wouldn't have to navigate down the aisle and be next to lav. I saw first-hand the "magical healing power of flight" when he was one of five wheelchairs boarding and the only wheelchair deplaning.
The best part of the journey was when they lined up the wheelchair passengers to pre-board in LGA and the gate agent when down the line to check boarding passes. When the gate agent got to my Father she pulled him out of line to board ahead of the others (we were originally in fourth). Number One asked why he's going ahead and the GA replied "He's in First." The look on Number One's face was priceless.