so I've been asked many many times over the years to do a video on the best states for
disabled people I put it off for a while then I made one it got demonetized and I ended up
scrapping it I started researching again and came to the conclusion that I wasn't
up for the challenge when I set out to make a video I sort of map out where I'm gonna get my
information been doing this a long time I know where the information is I just have
to go find it and read about it I normally like to stay with government agencies when I can but
I often find myself down a rabbit hole or two and spend two hours on Google just reading about some
weird stuff that sometimes has nothing to do with what I'm researching after I do my script I have
researcher Ellie do the same research without knowing where I got my info ninety percent of
the time we come up with the same information the schools are normally where I find the different
stats school districts have different numbers than States states have different numbers than
the Department of Education and whenever I get an email from a teacher apparently they're the only
ones that have the right information them and I guess the lunch ladies I've had lunch ladies
email me before they don't like what I said about something when I made the first video
and then I made this video like four months ago I found on the subject of disabled everyone has
different numbers and the numbers aren't even close to each other so I had to come up with a
better way to make this video what I did was I looked at other lists and picked the 10 states
that showed up most often on all the lists that I looked at the CDC to see what they had to say
and then I went to each state to see what programs or steps they're taking to make the state a better
place for people living with disabilities this video is just the facts no jokes no making fun
of Mississippi Arkansas or my cousin's ex-wife the only funny thing I will tell you before we
get started I once raced a guy in a wheelchair I was gonna run he was in his wheelchair and I lost
I was in shape it wasn't even close as he passed the Finish Line I'm sure he heard me 10 yards
behind him yell disabled my ass that's what we're doing today got it get it good let's take a look
number 10 Oregon Oregon is always kind of like this type of State they do a lot of things to
help out veterans people living on the street we always have some kind of social programs and this
is no different one problem Oregon does have like a lot of states is budget problems when it comes
to special needs students Oregon special education system struggles with not enough hands on teaching
and not enough eyes on everyone in the school that's a quote from their website but in Oregon
we have strict laws about not being fired or demoted paid less or otherwise treated differently
because you have a physical or mental disability a lot of states have things like that but organs
are pretty strict many of the top attractions and viewpoints in Oregon's Coast are disability
accessible we have a lot of hiking trails and a lot of them are smoothed out so people in some
sort of wheelchair can enjoy the outdoors too 15.2 percent of Oregon residents live with a disability
number nine New York this state of New York comes in at number nine but the city ranks
second in the world for the most disability friendly City that study ranked over 20 of the
world's most visited cities they included factors such as wheelchair accessibility disabled parking
spaces and Airport accessibility I should say they tied with Amsterdam for second place JFK airport
is considered one of the most disabled friendly airports in the world there was one report that
said 25 percent of New York City's restaurants and 38 percent of the city's things to do activities
are wheelchair accessible 12 percent of New York residents live with a disability
number eight Washington state right up the coast from me is Washington State actually
I'm not even on the coast I'm outside of Portland the coast is two hours away from me see I've been
living up here 13 years now and I still have the mentality that I live right by the ocean
from Growing Up in Southern California Washington state is another state that
is considered to go above and beyond what the Americans with Disability Act covers in
Washington their version is broader and it covers more medical conditions and is not as restrictive
on the conditions that people have they're even big on temporary conditions including
pregnancy-related disabilities that fall under Washington State's protections now when I tell
you these things I'm not saying other states don't have them I'm just telling you the ones
that they've usually you know stepped up usually a little bit above and beyond the
Americans with Disability Act 13.1 percent of Washington state lives with a disability
number seven Delaware Delaware is home to several technology and Innovation
companies that are focused on developing new technologies and products to help people with
disabilities they have a strong network of disability advocacy groups and Community
organizations that provide support resources and services to people with disabilities and
their families they put a lot of money into this in Delaware uh their website
was had a little too much reading for me but almost every single one of the things
I looked at had Delaware in their top ten the only other two that were on every single list
I looked at were number one and two on this list and Delaware at number seven
number six West Virginia you know I'm not surprised at this one at All West Virginia
for all its problems they really look out for each other they may have budget problems for
a lot of different things but they always have money to cover all the disability programs they
have going at least they try to I'm sure they've had a budget shortfall here or there West Virginia
provides a variety of Supportive Services to individuals with disabilities including
Vocational Rehabilitation Independent Living Services and assistive technology programs
the other cool thing I noticed that they have a whole bunch of different programs in place
that are designed to help individuals with disabilities find employment and
become self-sufficient they're also big on giving tax incentives for employers who hire
individuals with disabilities 18.7 percent of West Virginia's residents are living with a disability
number five Maryland Maryland has an expanded employer obligation to accommodate applicants
with disabilities they actually have like a training course that people that are
involved in the hiring new employees and the HR department that takes care of the
old employees but the state requires them to go through all this training that looks
at you know their obligations to accommodate employees with disabilities applicants with
disabilities existing insurance that includes Employment Practices liability insurance just
going over their website I was amazed at how much there was going on in Maryland to help
people with disabilities 11.3 percent of Maryland residents live with a disability
number four North Dakota you know I gotta tell you I wasn't expecting this one North
Dakota really just doesn't seem like a state that would be too into things like this I mean
at least not the type of state that would go above and beyond what the Ada says they have
to do but here they are proving me wrong one thing that I did notice about North Dakota is
they have quite a few well actually one really big one called ndad North Dakota Association for
the disabled but that one was founded like 50 years ago they are serious advocates for
the disabled they've done a lot of things over the years that organization just isn't
in North Dakota they also deal with a lot of the bordering communities in the surrounding
states twelve point three percent of North Dakota residents live with a disability
number three Vermont I expected Vermont to be on here this is up their alley you
know this is the type of thing you'd expect from Vermont one thing that stood out about
Vermont when I was doing the research on this is they earned International recognition for
its inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the workforce
they were the first state in the U.S to eliminate segregated workshops entirely
for people with disabilities 13.5 percent of Vermont residents live with a disability
number two Pennsylvania Bravo Pennsylvania welcome to the party we don't talk about Pennsylvania
enough and I really like Pennsylvania but I'm glad they're here on this list at number two
good job in 2022 lawmakers were considering adding mandatory lessons that would teach
students about the social political and historical contributions of people with
disabilities in the school districts a special committee was set up to oversee and evaluate
the learning materials to be used as part of the program 13.8 percent of Pennsylvania's
residents live with a disability all right before we get to number one don't forget we
have another Channel called on this day there's a link for that down below alright on to number one
and number one Massachusetts yeah I could definitely see Massachusetts leading the
pack on this one that's like Vermont their kind of thing one of the things they're doing pretty
good is Massachusetts has a strong commitment to inclusive education with several schools
and universities offering programs and resources designed to support students
with disabilities several Health Care Providers offer specialized
services to individuals with disabilities including Physical Therapy occupational
therapy and speech therapy 11.7 percent of Massachusetts residents live with a disability
all right that's today's video hope you guys enjoyed it hope it was informative
for you I know that's not really uh exciting or sexy subject and I'm sure a lot of people
won't be interested in it but you know I've been asked about this so many times
I just had to do it all right everyone have a great day be nice to each other