When it was time to testify in front of a state appellate panel, Gretchen Parker was nervous. She believed in her case, but she wondered if she'd say the right thing. She wondered if the panel would take her seriously.

Parker, 28, has developmental disabilities - she describes them as difficulties with learning and attention - and she lost that 2007 appellate hearing. But last week, the state Supreme Court listened to Parker when it handed her a victory that may have broad repercussions for disabled adults across the state.

Parker said she remembers getting the news from her friend Vince Cavalli. She was in the library and had meant to turn her cell phone's ringer off. So when her Red Sox-stickered Razr buzzed, she jumped up and answered the call.

"I couldn't believe I got someone to listen to me," she said. "It didn't really sink in until I got off the phone."

The court's decision said that Parker could live with Cavalli and his wife, even though the agency that manages most of her state-provided services thought it was a bad idea. The justices said that, though professionals thought there might be some danger there, Parker was capable of weighing the risks and making her own choice.

"The risk of harm is part of everyday life and reasonable people commonly choose to engage in activities that include exposure to some risk," the court said in a unanimous decision written by Chief Justice John Broderick. Like adults without disabilities, the court found, disabled adults should also be free to accept reasonable risks.

Amy Messer, the legal director at the Disabilities Rights Center, which helped Parker argue her case to the court, said that the decision shows that the court is committed to preserving "choice and self-determination" for people with disabilities.

"It's hard to say that there's really anything more related to your quality of life than where you live and who you live with," Messer said. "The Supreme Court really recognized that."

Parker said she's looking forward to a reunion. She lived for years with the Cavallis and another developmentally disabled adult, Richard Miller. Miller has a history of aggressive behavior, but Parker said that the four get along like a family.

"We have like a brother-sister-type relationship. There was never any problem," Parker said. "We're really like best friends."

When they lived together, the Cavallis, Parker and Miller would go swimming in New Hampshire lakes and ride ATVs around the Cavallis' Deering property. Parker and Miller would spend an hour every afternoon battling at PlayStation.

But in October 2006, Miller got angry at his Easter Seals adult day program, which they both attended. He punched a wall and hit a staff person. Parker said she could hear the argument unfolding from the next room, and she got worried for her friend.

But then they went home, talked about the incident and resumed their normal routine. They played video games and ate dinner that night.

The agency that managed Parker's residential contract - then called the Area Agency of Greater Nashua, and now called Gateways Community Services - heard about the confrontation and decided that Parker should move.

"We take her safety really seriously, and that was basically our position," said Beth Raymond, the vice president of individual and family services for the agency.

Parker said that the news came abruptly. Things were normal, and then one day, her residential contract with the Cavallis was canceled.

"I kept saying, 'What did I do wrong? Why is it on me? Why am I leaving,' " she said. Parker said that, from the very beginning, she told the agency that she was happy with the Cavallis and had never had any problems with Miller.

"It's like having your hands tied in a million knots and not being able to untie any of the knots," Parker said. (next page »)