As a wheelchair user (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) I can tell you the article left out one of the worst things airlines do. From what I can tell, they offer crew absolutely no training on how to handle electric wheelchairs (very brittle and expensive). I've flown ~22 times in my life and 10 times they completely broke my chair; stripped joystick, tire came off twice, cut wires (how?), electronics fried by some unknown liquid, etc. This has happened with AA, United, AirTran, and Delta.

edit: I should also mention that I even cover the chair in multiple layers of bubble wrap.

I wish I could just bring my chair next to everyone else. The standard seats are difficult to sit in for long flights.