Tennessee Disability Scorecard

Over the past two years of the Tennessee Disability Scorecard, the state has seen its grade drop from a D+ in 2022 to a D in 2023. This reflected not only the everyday experiences of Tennesseans with disabilities, but also the lack of urgency and progress made by our state’s lawmakers and state agencies in improving their lives. Since the inaugural scorecard in 2022, we have expanded the scope of our scorecard from only working-age adults to include all Tennesseans with disabilities. We also added “homework” to last year’s scorecard to offer a path forward for our state’s decision makers to improve their grade while improving the lives of Tennesseans with disabilities.

In numerous cases, the state took its homework seriously. Since the publication of the 2023 Scorecard, the General Assembly, Governor’s office and state agencies addressed ten homework items, making progress toward some and outright completing others. These accomplishments will have, in some cases, profound positive impacts on the lives of Tennesseans with disabilities.

However, in our 2024 Tennessee Disability Scorecard, it would be a disservice to the real-life experiences of the state’s disability community to highlight the positive work of the Governor and General Assembly while Tennesseans with disabilities and their families continue to whither on the vine. Thus, we are not able to in good conscience improve the state of Tennessee’s final grade, despite the victories for the disability community. In that context, the 2024 Tennessee Disability Scorecard assigns a “D” to the state.

Previous Scorecards:

2023 Tennessee Disability Scorecard

2022 Tennessee Disability Scorecard