NASHUA – Around this time back in 1976, an announcement was made regarding the formation of a “Developmental Disabilities Advisory Committee,” its purpose to support “persons with dyslexia, autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy or mental (disability)” living in Nashua and 10 neighboring towns.

Overseeing the process was the late Dorothy Colson, a well-known Hollis resident and career social worker and social services leader who served as a state representative for several years.

One of Colson’s leadership roles was as a regional planner for the New Hampshire Developmental Disabilities Council, which put her in charge of recruiting members from those 11 Greater Nashua communities, which together would come to be known as Area Agency Region VI.

Around the time the committee got up and running, officials designated as the regional Area Agency affiliate a 10-year-old Nashua-based agency called the PLUS Company, a “sheltered workshop” that employed disabled individuals and offered them a handful of programs.

In 1981, PLUS Company leadership hired a recent University of New Hampshire graduate named Sandra Pelletier, who promptly set out on a mission to remove disabled Nashua area residents from the Laconia State School – which for many of the younger folks was the only home they’d ever known – and resettle them in their Greater Nashua home towns.

Co-workers of Sandra Pelletier, the original and current executive director of Gateways Community Services, created a huge sign in front of the agency's 144 Canal St. headquarters that celebrates both the agency's 40th year and Pelletier's 40th year as its leader. (Courtesy photo)

Pelletier would become the state’s first case manager for people with developmental disabilities. She was soon joined by three others, including Nashua native and lifelong resident Bill Stumpf. Together, the case managers took on the challenge of “bringing people out of Laconia.”

The biggest part of that challenge, Pelletier said, was “making people understand,” referring to residents of local towns who hadn’t had much, if any, experience with people with disabilities, causing them to react unfavorably to the plan to return disabled folks to their communities.

Not surprisingly, the job was such that the case managers found themselves working well beyond the hours of a typical workday, but around the time Pelletier departed the PLUS Company to head up the newly created Area Agency of Greater Nashua, she and her coworkers were beginning to see the progress resulting from the landmark decision in a case known as Garrity v. Gallen – which brought to light the abuse and neglect at Laconia State School and led to the passage of legislation mandating that developmentally disabled people be provided services in their local communities.

The lead plaintiff was the late Sandy Garrity, who was 45 when she died of cancer in 2005.

Garrity, a Nashua resident, was sent to Laconia when she was 8 and remained there until she was 21 – when, thanks to the ruling in the lawsuit that pitted her against then-Gov. Hugh Gallen and the state – she came home to Nashua in 1981.

The favorable ruling for the plaintiffs not only set the stage for the exodus from Laconia – and its eventual closure – it also put New Hampshire on the map as the first state in the nation to adopt a policy of providing services locally to developmentally disabled people through a network of nonprofit agencies such as Gateways, the PLUS Company, the Nashua Center (formerly the Nashua Center for the Multiply Handicapped), Opportunities Network, and the former NEEDS (Nashua Evaluation Employment Development Services) workshop and the STEP program, among others.

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HOW TO REGISTER

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Gateways Community Services is hosting a virtual event to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

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WHEN

7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 15

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WHERE

Viewers’ choice; event is virtual

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HOW MUCH

No charge

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TO REGISTER

Go to www.gatewayscs.org, scroll down to “Gateways 40th anniversary celebration” and click on “register now” for registration options, and to view and bid on auction items

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MORE

Silent and live auctions; guest speakers; registration and the silent auction open up to the start of the program.

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About Gateways Community Services

In 1975, the New Hampshire legislature passed a law that mandated “the Division of Mental Health to establish, maintain, implement and coordinate a comprehensive service delivery system for developmentally disabled persons.”

It was this law that created area agencies, defined eligibility, and guaranteed certain services to eligible clients.

The service delivery system mandated by the law included the Laconia State School, as well as community agencies, and mandated that each client in the system have an individual service plan (ISP).

On Jan. 31, 1991 the doors of the Laconia State School closed and tremendous demands were placed on agencies to deliver services locally.

Gateways Community Services, formerly Area Agency of Greater Nashua – Region VI, was established to provide innovative support programs and build an effective community based system in greater Nashua to meet this monumental need.

In May 2008, Area Agency of Greater Nashua was renamed Gateways Community Services “to better reflect who we are today,” executive director Sandra Pelletier said at the time.

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Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.