2026 cohort heads to Capitol Hill

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Julie Smith

Photograph showing five women and one man sitting on a low wall outside the U.S. Capitol The group is dressed in business attire suggesting a professional or advocacy visit.

Maine trainees take a quick break at the US Capitol Building: Jon McGovern, Jany Kayitesi, Emmerson Leach, Regina Bowie, Paige Galloway, Lisa Rancourt.

In March, NH-ME LEND trainees and faculty traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend the Disability Policy Seminar. This annual event brings people from across the country to build support on Capitol Hill and amplify the concerns of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) before Congress. On the first day, trainees attended a day packed with informative sessions providing current information about relevant issues affecting people with disabilities’ access to the necessary support and services to participate equally in their communities.

The second day, NH-ME LEND trainees visited Capitol Hill to present their policy briefs and educate congressional delegates about the threats to educational access for students with disabilities. Trainees provided information about the potential impact of the dismantling of the Department of Education (DOE) and the movement of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) into different federal departments. Concerns presented included potential fragmentation of education civil rights enforcement, complication of IDEA funding, and risk of elimination of national data collection.

Photograph of six people standing outside a building with a stone wall displaying partially visible sign - Hart Senate Office Building

Getting ready to meet with Senator Shaheen’s delegation, L-R: Julia Sabet, Maggie Mahoney, Regan Lamphier, Sarah Perry, Linda Bergeron Hansen, Stacy Driscoll, Ally Gagne

Melissa Whaley is a woman of light skin tone with brown and gray shoulder-length hair, wearing glasses, standing outside in a field with a hill and trees in the distance.

“The Department of Education has ensured that the oversight needed to enforce IDEA is present and working in students’ best interest. Without IDEA oversight to ensure that IDEA is followed across the country regardless of state, my children would not have received the supports they needed as our family relocated from North Carolina to Tennessee to New Hampshire over the course of their lives as students.” ~ Melissa Whaley

Regina Bowie is a woman with curly brown and some white hair.  Pictured outside in front of a water feature or modern-day water fountain.

Regina Bowie shared about when she was a young student, then later in life, a parent with disabilities. “If it weren’t for IDEA within the DOE, I would not have gotten the speech therapy I needed. Resource rooms and individualized goals would not have been available to teach me in a way I could learn. Now, I can advocate for myself and people with disabilities of all ages.”

Jeannette is a Black woman with beautiful smile, black hair braided in white shirt, small eyes. Smiling for camera.

“Without nationwide data, policymakers would have no reliable way to know whether states are meeting legal obligations or how students with disabilities are faring. The absence of organized, comparable data will make fact-based policy development increasingly difficult.”
~ Jeannette Kayitesi

Congratulations to the 2026 NH-ME LEND Cohort for making connections, sharing your stories, and providing education on this critical issue!