What did people in wheelchairs do before these rideshare apps were around?
The ones affluent enough to afford it used private drivers.
A few years ago I was in a freak accident and ended up in a wheel chair for about 3 months. It's really hard to put into words how much more effort and hassle it is to get around that way, even when most of the people around you are willing to help. And I was relatively lucky, still having full use of my arms and no other health issues. But a decent rule of thumb is to take however long you think some activity should require and multiply that by three, at minimum.
A disabled friend of mine has often spent quite literally all day dealing with disabled transit issues to get across town for a single appointment someplace. We help him out when we can, but like most people he hates feeling beholden to the charity of friends.
Worse, the financially better off using the paid services allowed the public services to become more responsive to the poorer members of this demographic. So now everybody will suffer.
Edit: This was one of the main reasons against using Uber. Cabs were, I believe, legally required to provide this service, and Uber wasn't. That may have changed, but cabs were subject to that regulation, at least in Oregon, and Uber wasn't. Uber may have filled that gap, but I'm sure it was for financial benefit to them and not because it was the right thing to do.
Unfortunately, the cab companies had accumulated years of bad will from tolerating bad and abusive drivers and then ran strikes in the city where drivers attacked people and deliberately blocked an ambulance.
I don’t like any of the sides in this battle.
Also my grandparents in a city always used a cab service that only serves wheelchair and has trained drivers to load and unload.