What are the most significant ways that New Hampshire has changed over the past 25 years? A century of neglect of NH’s citizens with disabilities came to an end during this past quarter century. Previously we had transformed these, our family members and neighbors, from being citizens, into objects of medical oddity, described their differences with pity, removed them from our communities, and then warehoused them in squalid conditions at Laconia State School and New Hampshire Hospital. They and their families won New Hampshire’s most important civil rights battle when they gained their rights to full citizenship, education, and participation in community life. NH was the first state to end all institutional confinement of citizens with disabilities in 1991, and in doing so, established the clear moral standard for the nation, that all citizens be fully included in our neighborhoods, schools, and democracy.
What in working with people with disabilities has changed the most, especially in New Hampshire, over the past quarter century? I worked for six governors, from Meldrim Thompson to Jeanne Shaheen. Despite the wide spectrum of their political ideologies, and with the help of an initial push from the Federal Courts, they, as well as Governor Lynch today, accepted their responsibility to be stewards for the state’s citizens with disabilities, mental illness, and brain injury, and brought their particular interests to their wellbeing. As a result huge changes occurred, ranging from the closure of Laconia State School to the building of a new, short-term treatment State Hospital under Dartmouth Medical School’s clinical leadership. Most importantly, each made a commitment to the development of community housing, employment opportunities, and family support, as well as major special education improvements. Fundamental to all of these changes was the voice of individuals and their families as the advocates for responsible policies.
What Granite Stater(s) would you say inspired you? In what way? The mothers and fathers of individuals with disabilities, and the individuals themselves have guided me, been patient with me, and continue to educated me throughout my leadership roles. Their trust in me has been both inspiring and very sobering in the complex ethical and professional decisions that I have been asked to make. The rise of parent leaders, family groups, and self-advocates keeps our field in an open dialogue as to where we must continue to reform and they motivate me to never step back from doing the best work that I can do.
What would you consider your favorite spot in New Hampshire and why? I guess I’d say “Grover’s Corner”. This was the fictional home in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town”. For me it is the symbol of all of our small towns and the “old New Hampshire” that is our cultural inheritance and a landscape of serenity and beauty. It is a place where the communities were closely knit, sometimes a bit too close, but where neighborly values held together ordinary lives and provided a place for all individuals to belong.
What would you like to see accomplished in New Hampshire over the next 25 years? We need to learn how to truly care about our seniors to make sure they can maintain their lives in our communities and feel valued for their wisdom and achievements.
We need to learn how to truly care about our seniors to make sure they can maintain their lives in our communities and feel valued for their wisdom and achievements.
It is imperative that we establish a method of fair taxation, based on the ability to pay, that assures excellence in our schools and educational opportunity for every child.
