Spending time at state and national parks has often been linked with health benefits, but accessing sites has long been a barrier for those with mobile disabilities, and efforts in states like Minnesota aim to change it.
Starting Aug. 1, the Department of Natural Resources will bring its all-terrain track chair program to eight additional state parks. The initiative started last year at five other sites.
The adaptive devices work like a wheelchair but are fitted with rotating tracks, similar to an army tank, making it easier to navigate trails.
Jamie McBride, state park and recreation area program consultant for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said it will allow people with disabilities to take in the scenery and fresh air like everyone else.
"That pilot project showed that visitors were gaining a sense of independence, [and] they were able to explore the trails as a family, rather than having somebody have to stay back at a campsite or a picnic shelter," McBride explained.
In putting together plans, McBride noted they studied a similar effort in Colorado. A recent survey in Frontiers in Psychology found 99% of people using wheelchairs report enjoying nature, but nearly 40% said they avoid green spaces because of accessibility issues.
McBride pointed out offering the devices aligns with broader efforts to eliminate barriers for marginalized populations to visit state parks.
"State parks, national parks were built in a time when these barriers weren't necessarily considered," McBride acknowledged. "All new development has to meet ADA requirements. That doesn't mean state parks are fully accessible, however."
He's referring to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. McBride added as they update sites, they will keep exploring ways to make parks less restrictive to those with physical limitations while balancing the need to protect nature.
The new state budget is expected to help by prioritizing funding for an agency program keeping accessibility in mind when modernizing parks.
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Maryland is facing a $3 billion budget deficit, and planned cuts in 2026 would include millions in disability assistance. But one advocate says those cuts would threaten lives.
More than 20,000 Marylanders with disabilities receive state support to help their families afford caregiver services. More than 3,500 families use self-directed services, which give families the ability to set up caregiving separately from traditional programs.
Those services in the proposed budget will face cuts, which advocates say would drive caregivers out of the system to better-paying opportunities.
Montgomery County resident Hamza Khan, a disability rights advocate, has two siblings with special needs. He said funding issues stem from the state overextending itself while getting federal COVID-19 assistance.
"As the pandemic wound down, the state also received one-time federal injections of cash into our budget," Khan said. "And it appears that the governor built those into long-term injections of cash - that he built those structurally into the budget, rather than counting for them to be one time."
Gov. Wes Moore's supplemental budget avoided steep cuts through the rest of 2025, but did not address more than $400 million in cuts for next year.
Khan pointed out these cuts to disability assistance come as the state has added 5,000 employees to its payroll. Khan said these proposed budget reductions would run counter to current laws that require more community input - and give Maryland families the right to choose their care.
"Given the fact that 18,000 people are going to suffer extraordinary pain, and some of them might very well die, he should prioritize funding that prior arrangement first," Khan added. "It's been guaranteed under Maryland law for many years, and it's been expected that costs would rise, but they haven't risen so extraordinarily that the budget can't cover for that."
State salaries, wages and benefits are projected to cost Marylanders $12.2 billion in 2025.
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Tennessee's Disability Day on the Hill is an opportunity for people living with a disability to unite, and engage in the legislative process.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports nearly 1.6 million Tennesseeans have a disability.
Carrie Carlson, director of community engagement with the Tennessee Disability Coalition, said people are encouraged to meet them for the Disability Day on the Hill in Nashville.
The event focuses on issues and challenge policies that threaten protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"Disability Day on the Hill is a day where hundreds of people with disabilities will come to Nashville, to Cordell Hull, and get involved in the legislative process," said Carlson, "meaning having meetings with their Senate and House of Representatives."
She said Tennesseans with disabilities face unequal access to education, housing, transportation, and health care.
The theme for Wednesday's event is Liberty Not Limits, which means having a disability should not limit your liberty to live the life of your choosing.
Carlson said Tennesseans are encouraged to light up and wear "coalition blue," and post to social media in support of Disability Advocacy Day.
She added that this will be the fifth year recognizing March 11 as Disability Advocacy Day, with an annual proclamation that highlights the strength of advocacy efforts.
"Disability Advocacy Day," said Carlson, "is a day where specific landmarks across the state of Tennessee in each region West, middle and East go blue to show the amazing accomplishments and advocacy efforts of Tennesseans with disabilities."
Carlson said Disability Advocacy Day began with key landmarks in Tennessee lighting up blue to raise awareness, and chosen to address transportation barriers.
Now, it has expanded as communities participate in their own ways - lighting homes, wearing blue, and gathering for photos to show support for local advocacy work.
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By Tim Spears for WISH-TV.
Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the WISH-TV-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration
In the face of Medicaid cuts, autism advocates in Indiana are focusing on protecting coverage of a popular therapy.
As News 8 reported, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration will reduce Medicaid coverage of applied behavior analysis, or ABA therapy. Individuals will be limited to between 30-38 hours of ABA per week, depending on their diagnosis, and will only be covered for a total of 36 months.
That three-year coverage cap was initially planned to be retroactive, but the FSSA changed course this past Friday following widespread pushback. The changes go into effect April 1.
Parents like Jana Tiede believe ABA coverage should be based on existing need, not how long a person has needed it.
“With the help of ABA she’s really starting to put together those social connections,” Tiede said. “Just to say that an arbitrary three-year mark for someone like Ryah, that doesn’t seem appropriate to me.”
ABA therapy is behavior based, helping individuals with autism improve communication, socialization, and development.
When the FSSA first proposed cuts to ABA coverage, Tiede said she reached out to her local lawmakers, State Rep. Hunter Smith (R-Zionsville) and State Sen. James Buck (R-Tipton Co.).
She said she felt ignored when neither responded.
“I was really hoping that a dialogue could be created and it was pretty disappointing,” Tiede said.
The Autism Society of Indiana (ASI) is planning an advocacy day at the statehouse, Monday, so people can directly share their stories with lawmakers face to face.
“We feel a lot of lawmakers don’t even know what autism is,” ASI Dir. of Training & Legislation Rachel Deaton said. “If a lawmaker understands what a parent is going through, from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed and how much ABA is helping them, they might be willing to advocate for it.”
Indiana is trying to get ABA spending under control after an audit found the state made at least $56.5 million in improper Medicaid payments for ABA services over the course of a year.
The ABA cuts also come as the Braun Administration initiates a larger Medicaid crackdown by increasing eligibility checks, supporting legislation to add work requirements and enrollment caps, and ordering providers to stop advertising Medicaid programs.
John Lotz, whose son Drake went through ABA, believes these changes are focused on regulating the parents rather than providers.
“Our children are discriminated against every day,” Lotz, an advocacy leader with Indiana Profound Autism Alliance, said.
He wants the FSSA to avoid implementing the three-year cap, and instead base coverage on need. He also doesn’t think it will do much to curb improper billing.
“You’re really not going to hurt the [ABA] centers because they’re just going to re-adjust their business model to bring in more kids for fewer hours,” Lotz said. “The ones that are going to be pushed out are the ones with the greatest needs.”
ASI will be at the statehouse from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday. Deaton emphasizes there are no plans for a protest, but the organization will inform people how to advocate for policies to protect people with autism.
Tim Spears wrote this article for WISH-TV.
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