My wife and I have been struggling the past few months with whether to stay in Denver.

This possible move from a community we love dearly is animated by a narrow but compelling consideration. Our beautiful and enchanting middle daughter, who is severely autistic, will likely require intensive support for her entire life. Colorado, despite our state's high per capita income, is near bottom in national rankings for services and funding for disabled adults. We learned from a friend who specializes in disability law that "countless families have left Colorado for the same reason."

But life has a way of teaching unexpected lessons. As my wife and I immersed ourselves in other cities - visiting schools and special education programs, scouting houses and neighborhoods, speaking to families with special-needs children - we learned a lot about how other states treat their disabled. And we learned a thing or two about our hometown as well.

Our first lesson was that other parts of the country, particularly on the East Coast, do a much better job than Colorado in providing public support for severely disabled individuals and their families. According to a comprehensive report by the University of Colorado's Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, Colorado performs poorly in most categories measuring public resources for the disabled, ranking an abysmal 46th in overall family support.

Our second lesson (notwithstanding this first lesson) is that Denver is a tremendously difficult place to leave. During three months of countless visits to and intensive research of other great metropolitan regions, such as Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami, my wife and I found ourselves being continually reminded of things that make Denver so special. So here is this road-worn traveler's Top Five Reasons to Like Denver:

1. The People. We found nice people in all the cities we visited. But Denverites are distinctively friendly and unpretentious. Even the "rich, powerful, and famous" in Denver are for the most part very approachable and down-to-earth. Perhaps it's the altitude. There's little tolerance for people who have airs about them.

2. The Politics. In most central cities, politics is a bare-knuckled sport, requiring years of in-the-trenches gamesmanship. Our city and state politics in contrast is uncommonly cerebral, accessible and pristine. Call it the Revenge of the Policy Wonks.

Our mayor is a geologist-turned-restaurant entrepreneur who began his long-shot campaign by studiously visiting 15 cities and taking notes on best municipal practices. Colorado's speaker of the House and state treasurer both ran for state office as highly respected public policy professionals and our lieutenant governor jumped straight from leading a child advocacy organization to the state's second-highest office. And it's hard to wax too partisan, even in a heavily Democratic town like Denver, when Bruce Benson, the Uber-Republican oil and gas guy, has been at the forefront for years of major efforts in town to improve the public education system for Colorado's most disadvantaged kids.

3. The Business Community. Other regions can boast of civic-minded business leadership. And the business community, it is always important to note, contributes mightily to every metropolitan area in our nation as the primary source of opportunity, creativity and dynamism. But Denver's top business advocates are a special breed with a refreshingly broad and inclusive agenda. An illustrative example is Joe Blake, CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, who can be heard rhapsodizing about the strategies of Saul Alinsky, the legendary and radical community organizer.

4. The Grass-roots Community. If the business leaders in our state often sound like community organizers and social activists, the opposite is true as well. Colorado's nonprofit and advocacy organizations are led by strategic individuals who are temperamentally inclined toward finding solutions and framing even emphatic criticism within civil discourse. "You don't see the anger and conflict that exist in other cities," commented Fred Siegel, the renowned urban affairs writer, during one visit to Denver.

Metro Organizations for People, encompassing more than 30,000 families in low-income neighborhoods, is a national model. Their meetings attract several hundred residents, they politely and resolutely exact specific commitments from Denver's top political leaders to their agenda (which currently includes education, health care and public safety), and they always follow up.

5. Tolerance. Denver's history of tolerance and fairness is a priceless spiritual asset. Sixty years ago, Denver's Mayor Quigg Newton established the city's Commitee on Human Relations to acknowledge and address racial and ethnic discrimination. Newton also advocated for fair housing decades before it was on the mainstream political agenda. "Denverites give everyone a chance," former Mayor Wellington Webb says, "regardless of their skin color."

Denver can boast of many other attributes that make it an attractive place to live, work, and raise a family. All of this unfortunately does not offset entirely our state's relative shortcomings in creating a supportive environment for the disabled and the families who care for them. But there is reason to hope that a region as blessed as ours is with human and natural assets, the birthplace of our nation's largest charity, the United Way, will one day be a city of mile-high inspiration as well for our most vulnerable residents.

Shepard Nevel, an attorney, lives in Denver.