ABLE NH Board of Directors
- Sarah Aiken, Chair
Concord, NH
- Jan Larsen
Manchester, NH
Jan is the mother of 3 wonderful children and the grandmother of 5. My oldest daughter Christy was diagnosed in 1973 with what was then called Minimum Brain disorder now called A.D.H.D. Christy was one of the first high school graduates that had been in special education after passage of 94-142 now called IDEA. Christy is married to a wonderful man and has a daughter, Mikayla. I began advocating for Christy and it has given me a vocation. I received mediator training for parents of children receiving special educations services in California; then came to New Hampshire where I worked for the Parent Information Center. I became an employee of Work Opportunities focusing on vocational opportunities for individuals with disabilities and then worked in Massachusetts finally beginning a Family Support program there. I was hired by Moore Center Services in 1989. I was one of the original NH State Family Support Coordinators. I am President of the Arc of Greater Manchester and also on the Board of the NH Challenge newspaper for whom I write a column and articles focusing on Public Benefits. My dream job is presenting workshops for families and writing for the Challenge. I love being on the board of NH ABLE because the members are young, enthusiastic and computer Internet savvy!
- Adrienne Mallinson
Rochester, NH
Adrienne Mallinson is a staff attorney at the Disabilities Rights Center, where she works primarily on special education, juvenile justice, and developmental services issues. Adrienne joined the DRC in 2005 after graduating from Boston College Law School. While in law school, she worked at the DRC as an intern, and at Boston College’s Legal Assistance Bureau. Adrienne attended the University of Oxford, England, receiving a B.A. in History in 1992. Before law school, she worked for 10 years in a variety of nonprofit and for-profit sectors.
Adrienne grew up in England and moved to the U.S. in 1992. She lived in Dover for 9 years and currently lives in Rochester. She has been a volunteer in the mental health field, and plays the violin with the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra. She also serves as the DRC representative to the New Hampshire Developmental Disabilities Council.
- Mary Schuh, Secretary
Concord, NH
Mary C. Schuh, Ph.D., is the Associate Director at the UNH Institute on Disability. She has been with the Institute since its inception in 1987, working to coordinate family and consumer leadership development and educational change in the areas of preschool through transition to adult life. Mary has more than 20 years experience in inclusive schools and project management. She teaches a course on Introduction to Exceptionality at UNH, serves on the Boards of Directors for the Disability Rights Center and the Autism National Committee. She is the author/ co author of numerous books, chapters, and articles on topics related to inclusive communities and is the mother of two teenagers and 10,000 honeybees. Mary lives in Concord, NH.
- Carol Stamatakis
Carol Stamatakis is Director of Planning and Policy for the NH Council on Developmental Disabilities, where she directs policy development, advocacy and strategic planning to expand opportunities for people with disabilities. An attorney and member of the NH Bar since 1985, she is currently chair of the Mental and Physical Disabilities Law Section and a member of the Elder Law, Estate Planning and Probate Section of the NH Bar Association. In recent years she has she served on the legislatively created Commission on Financial Exploitation of the Elderly and People with Disabilities, Privacy Task Force and Healthcare Decisions Coalition that recommended revisions to the advance directives statutes. She is on the Board of Directors of the Disability Rights Center. She is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She served three terms in the New Hampshire legislature.
- Pat Vincent-Piet
Manchester, NH
Patricia Vincent-Piet runs Able Writer (www.ablewriter.com)- a business dedicated to helping NH non-profits achieve their missions using new web technologies such as blogs, wikis and social networking sites. Experiencing a disability herself, she has been a long time activist in the disability civil rights movement maintaining a blog on the subject at www.ablewritersays.com. Patricia lives in Concord with her husband, Jim and her daughter, Katelin. - Janet Williamson
Manchester, NH
Janet has been employed at the Institute on Disability at the University of NH for the past 19 years in a number of capacities. Janet is a powerful advocate in the movements for inclusive education, consumer direction, self-determination, individualized budgets, community based, family and individual managed supports and services, As the parent of a 38-year-old son with significant disabilities, Janet and her son have demonstrated how these values lead to a healthy, more satisfying, and independent way of life without increasing the resources necessary to provide supports and services. She has also served as a board member for a variety of state wide organizations, and as a small group facilitator for the IOD’s New Hampshire Leadership series.
