I am currently disabled. Had a bad car accident, lost my legs and am waiting on prosthetics.
I have a power wheelchair, so I don't deal with the pusher folks, but I do use the aisle chair to board and deplane the aircraft. I'm in the ATL airport 2-3 times per week and the large majority of the Airserv or Prospect folks (depending on the airport) are really great. I know a few in ATL very well and most of them remember me. There are some that are sour sacks, but it's a contractor so I ignore it and go see my favorite DL reps in the Sky Club.
That said, I have not found a friendly one of these folks in JFK yet.
I've complained three times to DL about issues concerning disabled accommodation.
1. Arrived to JFK from BOS and sat on the CR9 for an hour before the wheelchair lift was brought to the aircraft. There was another passenger also stuck onboard who needed the aisle chair as well. The wheelchair folks treated me with little respect and snapped at me because I didn't have a paper BP they could take for their records.
2. Another time in JFK - I arrived at the gate at t-1 hour to board the direct to SEA. Boarding started at t-35 and I was first down. Within two minutes, before I had even gotten on the plane, the GA began boarding BE. I had to wait for them to board, as I was also turning left on that 752. This was a DL issue, not a wheelchair contractor.
3. Flying GNV-ATL-LAS for a meeting. Ground crew drops my wheelchair from the cargo hold to the tarmac in ATL. I'm assigned a wheelchair pusher while they try to find a loaner power chair. I was rebooked to return to GNV, but had to wait 5 hours until my flight. The pusher takes me to the smoking lounge so I can smoke a cigar and call my client to cancel the meeting. He leaves to help at another gate and says he'll be back in an hour. He never shows - I sat in the lounge for nearly three hours. My wheelchair was totaled and an exact replica was built & delivered within two weeks. I wasn't upset - dropping the chair was an accident, but my pusher disappearing was not.
Each time, DL responded and gave me the government complaint number, but I never filed a complaint. I'll take the DL apology and some miles and move on.
Overall, I'm very happy. My wheelchair is always gate checked, so I don't have to deal with the pushers (except in China, where I have to collect the chair at oversize baggage). The folks who help me board in the aisle chair are usually nice. When I'm in GNV to visit my sister (undergrad at that terrible university), it's a small airport and everyone there knows my name and are truly exceptional - even the TSA folks. My guy Jama in Seattle actually stays past his scheduled hours to help me when he sees my name on the wheelchair schedule. I tip him well. I am told, though, that these wheelchair pushers are rarely tipped and I'm afraid that might lead to sour, grumpy folks.
Anyway, just some notes/observations from my own experiences.