Biography

Diane Smith Howard manages the NDRN team that works on community integration for people living in institutions, such as, prisons, hospitals, residential treatment centers, migrant shelters. Her individual work focuses on conditions for children and youth with disabilities in institutional systems, with a concentration on those who are members of multiple protected classes. Diane also provides training and technical assistance to the P&As, and advocates on these issues within the Administration, on the Hill, and in the courts, through NDRN’s work on amicus briefs.

Diane holds a B.A. with honors from Colby College, and a J. D. from Wayne State University Law School. She has represented individual clients and handled systemic cases at the P&As in Maine and Michigan. She has classroom teaching experience at the graduate, undergraduate, and high school level. Diane’s passion for this work is rooted in a family connection to children and adults with disabilities, LGBTQ and foster and adopted children and youth.