Asheville physician among five North Carolinians appointed to statewide Council on Disabilities

Press release from the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities:

(Raleigh, NC) – Five North Carolinians were recently appointed by Governor Roy Cooper to the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities (NCCDD).

Among the five was Dr. Rebecca Putnam, family medicine physician at MAHEC Family Medicine Residency in Asheville. She also serves as the director for their Adult Intellectual and other Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) Consult Clinic and is the Medical Director of the Acute Care Clinic, a facility that tests and treats for COVID. She is an advocate for her brother who is autistic.

She and the others join the board to serve on behalf of almost 200,000 people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD) in all 100 counties of North Carolina. The other appointees:

State Senator Sydney Batch (District 17)

Sydney Batch, a North Carolina Senator in District 17, will serve at the pleasure of the Governor. A partner in the law firm of Batch, Poore & Williams, PC, she practices family, juvenile, and appellate law. A Holly Springs resident, she is a board member at the Interfaith Prison Ministry for Women and on the National Association of Counsel for Children.

Charlrean Batten Mapson

Charlrean Batten Mapson is employed by the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church as a pastor and is currently pastoring at Price Cathedral AME Zion Church in Wilmington, NC. She is the mother of a 16-year-old son with autism and wrote her doctoral thesis on the inclusion of the autism population in churches, schools, and communities. A resident of Wilmington, she serves on the New Hanover County Smart Start Board.

Tony Hall

Tony Hall currently works part time for The Arc of the Triangle across Wake and Durham counties where he is a job coach for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Born with spina bifida, Hall has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Web & Applications Development with minors in Business Administration and Sociology from the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He is a resident of Raleigh.

Dale Stephenson

Dale Stephenson is an attorney with Ward Family Law Group in Cary, where she represents individuals in domestic matters including divorce, domestic violence, child custody, child support, and equitable distribution. She received her bachelor’s degree from Peace College, majoring in Political Science and minoring in Spanish and her Juris Doctor from Campbell Law School. Active in her community, Stephenson is a Guardian ad Litem for abused, neglected, and dependent children in Wake County.

NCCDD has 40 members appointed by the Governor of which 60 percent are required to be people with intellectual or other developmental disabilities (I/DD) or family members. Other members include state legislators, top state agency officials and representatives of Local Management Entities/Managed Care Organizations (LME/MCO) and service providers.

The Council works to identify problems facing the I/DD community as well as fund innovative projects and initiatives that promote NCCDD’s Five- Year State Plan and the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act) for all North Carolinians.

About the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities: The North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities (NCCDD) works to assure that people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their families participate in the design of and have access to needed community services, individualized supports and other forms of assistance that promote self-determination, independence, productivity and inclusion in all areas of community life. Through its Five-Year Plan, the Council identifies and funds innovative projects and initiatives that promote the goals of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act) for all North Carolinians.