Concord vigil scheduled to honor people who died in New Hampshire’s disability care system

A vigil will be held Saturday in Concord to honor people who died within New Hampshire’s intellectual and developmental disability care system. (Photo by William Skipworth/New Hampshire Bulletin)

ABLE NH, a New Hampshire-based disability advocacy organization, is planning a vigil on the State House lawn in Concord Saturday to honor people who died within New Hampshire’s intellectual and developmental disability care system.

In November, the Bulletin published a series of articles uncovering systemic abuse and neglect — sometimes fatal — occurring in New Hampshire’s state-funded and state-directed disability care system. Those articles told the stories of Stephen Weidlich Jr., who was found dead in the snow behind the Allenstown house where he lived with his caretaker in 2022, and Christine Marie Bill, who was found dead in 2019 after several hours left unattended in a hot car in Andover, among others.

“Reporting by the NH Bulletin has brought forward painful truths about abuse, neglect, and loss within New Hampshire’s developmental disability system,” ABLE NH wrote on Facebook announcing the vigil. “These are not just stories. Stephen and Christine were real people. They had names, families, and lives that mattered.”

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The vigil is scheduled for 4:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday.

“Disability is not the problem,” ABLE NH continued. “The problem is systems that fail to protect people and communities that do not always see what is happening. People with disabilities are leaders, neighbors, and valued members of our communities.”

ABLE NH also described the vigil as a “call to action.”

State Sen. David Rochefort told the Bulletin in late December he plans to file a late bill aimed at preventing abuse and neglect in New Hampshire’s disability care system. Additionally, the Disability Rights Center-NH is conducting an investigation into the system with the goal of creating specific recommendations for reform.