Board of Directors

I work at the intersection of family caregiving, disability systems, and community inclusion across state and federal policy landscapes.

As President of MassFamilies and Director of Family Engagement at Perkins School for the Blind, my work focuses on helping families in the IDD and autism community navigate complex service systems, strengthen family leadership, and plan for meaningful lives in their communities.

Over the past decade, I have worked with families, advocates, and service providers across Massachusetts to design programs that support caregivers in organizing knowledge about their loved ones, identifying supports, and navigating services across the lifespan.

My work is also informed by my experience as a family caregiver.

I am currently developing AI tools that help organize caregiving knowledge so it can be shared with support teams, new caregivers, and service providers—helping improve care continuity for individuals in the IDD and autism community.

Ruchi Mendiratta Khanna serves as Co-Chair of MassFamilies, where she is committed to strengthening family leadership and advancing equitable supports for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She is a doctoral studnet in Special Education at Boston University and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) whose work bridges research, practice, and community partnerships. Her interests include family advocacy, caregiver support, culturally responsive practices, and creating systems that honor the expertise and lived experiences of families.

I am a mother of three amazing, unique children. Two of them are neurodivergent. We are from Brazil and we live in Northborough. I have a degree in Education/Linguistics and I used to be a bilingual (English/Portuguese) teacher for 8 years. Our lives have completely changed after my second daughter was diagnosed with a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder. Her multiple disabilities and medical complexities were the main reason our family moved to the US in 2016.

Being an immigrant, living far from my support network in a country with language and culture different from mine, added to all the needs of a newly diagnosed child, were major challenges that we would face.  This is how I started my journey as a parent advocate: learning to navigate the health and education system, seeking services and supports to provide a good quality of life for my daughter with a disability and to our family.

The need to connect with other families experiencing a similar reality encouraged me to found a support group for atypical Portuguese-speaking families living in Massachusetts.  Our group, now called SuperParents, currently has nearly 250 families. Our mission is to provide opportunities for families to connect by sharing experiences and resources that will help to improve the quality of life of our loved ones with disabilities. We also promote social and recreational events for our families to interact and include the kids in community activities. We believe that awareness, acceptance, and inclusion are the keys for a better world where the differences are respected. Watching this group growing, friendships starting, people helping each other, families having a sense of belonging, nourishes my heart with a feeling of gratitude. My initial wish of offering the best for my daughter was extended for a bigger wish of wanting that for all kids with disabilities and their families, because they all deserve to have a better life.

Atypical motherhood changed me as a human being and changed the direction of my life. Everyday I dedicate my time in learning new things to help not just my daughter, but many other kids with disabilities and their families. I have attended to leadership trainings and disability related courses so I could improve my skills and develop a career in the human service field. In 2017, I graduated from Massfamilies metro region family leadership series.  The same year I also completed the PCTI training for parent advocate at the Federation for Children with special needs. In 2020, my youngest child was diagnosed with Autism by the age of 2.

The next year I joined MassFamilies as a volunteer Portuguese outreach coordinator and also became a Charting the Life Course Ambassador. Recently I received a certificate as a Community interpreter and started LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related disorders) fellowship at Umass/Shriver Center. Finally, this year I had the opportunity to offer the first Family Leadership Series in Portuguese with the support of Lauri Medeiros.

Sou mãe de três filhos incríveis e únicos. Dois deles são neurodivergentes. Somos do Brasil e moramos em Northborough. Eu tenho formação em Letras e costumava ser professora bilíngue (inglês/português) por 8 anos. Nossas vidas mudaram completamente depois que minha segunda filha foi diagnosticada com um raro transtorno genético do neurodesenvolvimento. Suas múltiplas deficiências e complexidades médicas foram a principal razão pela qual nossa família se mudou para os EUA em 2016.

Ser imigrante, viver longe da minha rede de apoio em um país com idioma e cultura diferentes dos meus, somados a todas as necessidades de uma criança recém-diagnosticada, eram grandes desafios que enfrentaríamos. Foi assim que comecei minha jornada como mãe advogada: aprendendo a navegar pelo sistema de saúde e educação, buscando serviços e apoios para fornecer uma boa qualidade de vida para minha filha com deficiência e para nossa família.

A necessidade de me conectar com outras famílias que experimentam uma realidade semelhante me encorajou a fundar um grupo de apoio para famílias atípicas de língua portuguesa que vivem em Massachusetts. Nosso grupo, agora chamado de SuperParents, atualmente tem quase 250 famílias. Nossa missão é oferecer oportunidades para as famílias se conectarem compartilhando experiências e recursos que ajudarão a melhorar a qualidade de vida de nossos entes queridos com deficiência. Também promovemos eventos sociais e recreativos para que nossas famílias interajam e incluam as crianças em atividades comunitárias. Acreditamos que a conscientização, a aceitação e a inclusão são as chaves para um mundo melhor, onde as diferenças são respeitadas. Ver este grupo crescendo, amizades começando, pessoas se ajudando, famílias com um senso de pertencimento, nutre meu coração com um sentimento de gratidão. Meu desejo inicial de oferecer o melhor para minha filha foi estendido para um desejo maior de querer isso para todas as crianças com deficiência e suas famílias, porque todas elas merecem ter uma vida melhor.

A maternidade atípica me mudou como ser humano e mudou a direção da minha vida. Todos os dias dedico meu tempo aprendendo coisas novas para ajudar não apenas minha filha, mas muitas outras crianças com deficiência e suas famílias. Participei de treinamentos de liderança e cursos relacionados à deficiência para que eu pudesse melhorar minhas habilidades e desenvolver uma carreira no campo do serviços humanos. Em 2017, me formei na série de liderança familiar da região metropolitana pelo Massfamilies. No mesmo ano, também completei o treinamento PCTI para país advogados na Federação para Crianças com Necessidades Especiais. Em 2020, meu filho mais novo foi diagnosticado com autismo aos 2 anos de idade. No ano seguinte, entrei para a Massfamilies como coordenadora voluntária de divulgação na língua portuguesa e também me tornei embaixadora do Charting the Life Course. Recentemente, recebi um certificado como intérprete comunitário e comecei a participar do programa LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related disorders) no Umass/Shriver Center. Finalmente, este ano tive a oportunidade de oferecer a primeira Série de Liderança Familiar em português com o apoio de Lauri Medeiros.

Thelma DaSilva Ajayi is a parent advocate, public service professional, and emerging entrepreneur whose career spans government, nonprofit organizations, and higher education. As the mother of a son with autism, she brings both professional expertise and lived experience to advancing inclusion, family engagement, and equitable access to services for individuals with disabilities.

Thelma completed the Strengthening Families Leadership Program, a leadership program through the Federation for Children with Special Needs. She has worked alongside parents, educators, and community leaders to strengthen family engagement and improve outcomes for students in public schools. She also serves on the Boston Foundation’s Nubian Square Pathways Task Force, collaborating with community leaders to expand opportunities for families and strengthen equitable outcomes.

She is currently developing Joshua’s Place, an inclusive business that aims to make disability resources more visible and accessible by bringing a café experience directly into communities while connecting families with information, local resources, and opportunities for meaningful connection.

Thelma is honored to serve on the Mass Families Board and is committed to ensuring that individuals with disabilities and their families have the resources, opportunities, and support they need to thrive.

Lesa Antoine is a dedicated advocate, parent, and community leader committed to improving the lives of individuals with disabilities and their families. As the mother of a 14-year-old child with a developmental disability, Lesa brings both lived experience and a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities within special education and disability services.

Lesa has been actively involved in advocacy and community work across Massachusetts. She has contributed to the Boston Public Schools climate survey to ensure the inclusion of parents of children with special needs and currently supports families through her work with Mass Advocates for Children’s helpline. She also serves as a special education advocate with the Federation for Children with Special Needs, assisting low-income families through IEP clinics and Jessie Fund cases. In addition, Lesa is a disability ambassador with the City of Boston Elections Department, helping to increase accessibility and civic engagement.

Known for her empathy, strong communication skills, and collaborative approach, Lesa is passionate about advancing equity, inclusion, and innovative solutions within the disability community. She is particularly interested in expanding outreach, creating caregiver support networks, and improving access to resources such as early intervention and inclusive education.

Lesa is a committed team player who brings energy, perspective, and a deep sense of purpose to her work. She is driven by a desire to give back to her community and to help shape systems that better support individuals with disabilities and their families.

Symbia Barnaby is an Indigenous woman of Haida and Mi’kmaq descent. She currently lives on the traditional unceded territory of the Coast Ts’msyen People, on what is known traditionally as kxeen, Her traditional Haida name is Guu Gaa Jung and her spirit name is Warrior Woman. She is a single mother of 6 children (5 of which have neurodevelopmental disabilities). She is trained as a Practical Nurse, a Reiki Level 3 Practitioner and, a traditional helper. Symbia is a fierce community inclusion advocate. She is also a storyteller, a filmmaker, and a Wisdom Translator.

Symbia volunteers with several community based organizations aimed at supporting the healing of generational and systemic trauma. She has developed and run workshops on decolonization, anti-racism, health equity, inclusion, disability and intersectionality. She also  consults on projects with various agencies and individuals wanting to understand equity, policy and protocols through an Indigenous lens with her business called Healing Nation Coaching and Consulting.

Website: www.healingation.ca
Email: healingnationconsulting@gmail.com
FB: Symbia Barnaby
IG: @symbiabarnaby

I am a mother of two 18 year-old sons with autism, a former paraprofessional and parent advisory council member, and an active Parent/Caregiver Group member at the United ARC in Franklin County. I have also organized and attended numerous legislative events to discuss the needs of those impacted by developmental disabilities.

As a licensed social worker, I enjoy helping caregivers recognize their unique strengths, and discover ways to use them to help advocate for their families. I am always inspired by the spirit, resilience, and determination of parents and caregivers. I look forward to every opportunity to support and learn from them.

I believe in MassFamilies, and I believe in myself and what I can offer the MassFamilies communities. I feel that I can better support people because of my lived experience. As a mother of a child of special needs, as a woman of color, as someone that’s experienced rejection for myself and my son. As a woman of color I work with the BIPOC community knowing that there are layers of discrimination that happen for people, things are more challenging in getting support, services, and school. Some people are not getting the support that they deserve.

I am originally from Cabo Verde. My upbringing in various European Countries has taught me to value, understand, respect, and embrace cultural diversity.  I am a polyglot, speaking five languages and during my years as a student, I learned the sixth language, sign language. I am neurodiverse with an ADHD dyslexic brain.  I was diagnosed as an adult and my own disabilities/different abilities drive my passion. My positive thinking, social-emotional, self-awareness, and immediate family support are part of my daily life. My intersectionalities and life experiences give me a unique understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion as a whole. My ability to empathize, be vulnerable, and connect with people allows me to empower and give voice to those who might otherwise feel unheard or unseen. I am the co-founder of United Communities an organization that evaluates needs and connects individuals to resources.  I am the parent of two neurodiverse children a 15-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son. Both have an ADHD dyslexic brain, but the three of us are very different they both have sensory processing disorder and anxiety that again presents very differently. My daughter internalizes while my son externalizes. My son also has a communication disorder and my daughter has something that goes unrecognized by so many that it is not even taken into account when trying to come up with a plan to help the person in their daily lives, not even acknowledged for IEP even though it affects the way she learns. She has Chromesthesia a form of synesthesia that means that she sees sound. My children are my biggest teachers I have learned more about myself and people by raising them and trying to find ways to communicate, engage, teach and understand their needs. We live in a world where we will never fit in it is a difficult balance to teach self-love when everything says something is wrong with us. This is why I have so much passion, we are neurodiverse we have challenges and strengths for some things we need support for others we do not. None of this should exclude anyone from living their best life within society. None of these are excuses but all of them are reasons therefore we make our own paths and help others do the same.

Jevon Okundaye is the Program Assistant for Massachusetts Advocates for Children’s (MAC) Racial Equity and Access Program (REAP). Jevon uses he-series (he / him / his) pronouns. He is a Black autistic young man. He graduated from Tufts University in 2019 with majors in Africana Studies and English. He was a former MAC Young Adult Leader Fellow in 2017 and 2020. 

As part of this role, he writes blog posts, conducts research about the intersection of race and disability, and helps the REAP Program Lead with projects relating to the advancement of racial equity in Boston Public Schools. Here is a link to all his blog posts.

Jaya Pandey is a 2017 graduate of the Family Leadership Series. She lives in Franklin, MA with her husband (Ashish) and two sons (Ajey) and (Anand). Anand is on Autism Spectrum.

She has a master’s in Chemistry and has worked as a high school teacher in India. Jaya lived in Singapore before moving to the United States.

She works as a Business Analyst in a finance firm. She has multiple interests and is passionate about writing, cooking, music, traveling and connecting people to one another. She writes about various issues on her two blogs and for various organizations. In 2015 she became a part of the 100SareePact and since then she has used Sarees as a medium to talk about  social causes, disability and life as an immigrant woman and a Special Needs child’s mother. She is very involved in the Indian community in MA and has been working on raising awareness about special needs and Autism.

From personal experience and her own journey she has made it a mission to help Indian moms with Special Needs Children. She truly understands how isolated, confused and overwhelmed a mother can feel when her child gets diagnosed.

She founded “Desi Moms Network” a Global Community that connects Indian Moms with Special Needs Children to encourage them to be each other’s combined strength, support and resource.

Her blogs are MomLovesAnand.Blogspot.com and
Jayapandey.blogspot.com

Penny Price is a parent advocate and Boston resident. She is the proud mother of two children, including her son Michael, who has Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum, a rare neurological condition. As an immigrant and single mother, Penny has become a passionate advocate, navigating healthcare, education, and disability service systems to ensure her son has access to the services and supports he needs to thrive.

Professionally, Penny has led cross-functional teams across healthcare, digital, and research operations as a project manager. She brings expertise in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, communication, and project execution. These skills have been invaluable both in her career and in advocating for her family.

Penny recently completed the Metro Mass and Western Mass Family Leadership Series. She serves on the School Site Council at the William E. Carter School, volunteers as a Support Parent with the Parent to Parent of Massachusetts program through the Federation for Children with Special Needs (FCSN), and is honored to serve on the Mass Families Board of Directors. She is passionate about empowering families, sharing resources, and helping parents know they are not alone on their journey.

I am a single mother of an adult son with disabilities. I had a stroke a few years ago and now as a result I have disability challenges myself. My family has been struggling with isolation, lack of services, and lack of social support since the start of the pandemic.

My son and I are both Charting the LifeCourse Ambassadors. I want to make sure Black American families like ours have access to Supported Decision making. I want my son and I to continue strengthening our Family and outreach to the Black American Community. When I go to trainings usually, I’m the only Black person there, I am hoping I can change that.

I think my life experience as a single mother, Black American, a person struggling with disabilities, and a mother raising a Black Autistic adult will bring a perspective and voice that is often missing in the conversation.

I hope that I can help bring a voice to the table that usually isn’t there. That I can share the struggles that families like mine are having. I also enjoy telling my families story and I believe I would be a compelling advocate for pushing legislation and making change.

I believe telling your story is how to win hearts and minds to change policy and the system. I want the system to work for families like ours.