Mobile 10th worst city in the nation for people with disabilities, study finds
A new study from WalletHub ranks Mobile as the 10th worst city in the United States for people with disabilities, falling below all of the other cities in the state except for Montgomery.
“For lack of a better word, it’s pathetic,” said Constance “Addie” Ray, founder and CEO of Access for All, a consulting firm that works with businesses to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. “We’re a major port city in the United States, we’ve got Carnival, Airbus and all those sorts of things coming in here that have contracts that are worth millions of dollars a year… If this city can get millions of dollars a year worth of contracts…can they not see that they need to work in accessibility aspects for the disabled?”
Mobile placed 173 out of 182 cities studied by WalletHub. Nearby Gulfport, Miss., was the lowest ranked city on the list. Huntsville ranked 166 on the list, and Birmingham ranked 169. Montgomery was the only city in Alabama to rank below Mobile at 175.
“There are several metrics considered by the WalletHub study that aren’t within the City’s ability to control,” Candace Cooksey, communications director for the city of Mobile, said in an email. “However, we are working to address the things that are within the City’s control. Our team has worked hard to build inclusivity and accessibility into our programs and projects. Because of the age of Mobile’s infrastructure, we know there’s still work to be done.”
The study ranked all of the cities in the U.S. according to 33 factors that were weighted differently, including walkability, cost of living and effectiveness of state Medicaid programs. The 33 factors were divided into three categories: “economy,” “quality of life” and “health care.” Mobile ranked 77th in economy, 171st in quality of life and 174th in health care.