Spotlight: Arkansas Support Network ASN honors client for self-advocacy

In many ways, Stephanie Marks is perfectly ordinary. She likes shopping and watching crime shows on TV, and her favorite food is pasta. She calls her "Mawmaw" her role model -- "she accepted everyone as they were and loved each one unconditionally " -- and sometimes she needs some help trying to focus on "what is going on or what I should be doing while my brain is going in so many directions."

What sets Marks apart is not her disability -- she has autism and is nonverbal -- but her determination ""to stand up for [herself] and be heard."

"Don't let others railroad you," she says. "Fight for your rights and beliefs."

She will be honored for that can-do attitude Wednesday when Arkansas Support Network hosts its annual awards luncheon for clients, parents, educators, employers and employees. Marks will receive the Outstanding Self-Advocate Award.

"Stephanie was nominated by one of the managers who assists in providing her support services because of her hard work and determination in ensuring her voice is heard," says Syard Evans, ASN deputy chief executive officer. "Her manager stated that she exemplifies self-advocacy."

Founded in 1988, Arkansas Support Network "envisions a future where individuals with developmental disabilities have power and choice in making decisions and directing their lives; have relationships with people whom they love and care for and who love and care for them; receive recognition for the gifts they bring to our community; are actively involved in the communities where they live; have meaningful employment free of discrimination; and have opportunities to live healthy, safe and enjoyable lives."

In addition to honoring a parent advocate, excellence in education, community distinction, service and presenting the Pam Biesiot Memorial Scholarship, "each year, Arkansas Support Network recognizes an outstanding self-advocate in memory of Ryan Sutton and Martin Lovelace-Chandler, two amazing self-advocates who tirelessly fought to ensure their rights and the rights of others," Evans explains.

According to Evans' description, the award is "presented to a self-advocate who exemplifies the determination and hard work that Ryan Sutton and Martin Lovelace-Chandler displayed throughout their far too short lives. These men were fighters who would accept nothing less than excellence. They each made everyone who knew them better."

Sutton's mother, Dyann Dunn, says the award, created after Sutton's death, "makes me even prouder of him. What he did made a difference in his life and in others, and the award recognizes the same qualities in other people."

Marks has been an ASN client for more than 20 of her 42 years, she says.

"I receive personal care and have staffing to assist with daily living," she says, communicating via email with the assistance of staff. "They help me with my daily life skills, doctors' appointments, therapy and community inclusion. Specifically, the most important help is to maintain trying to be independent. They help me stay on track."

For Marks' mom, Holly Fields, the difference is really simple.

""The most important thing it's done is give Stephanie her independence from her family and [the ability to] get out on her own and set her own goals."

Fields says institutionalization has never been an "acceptable" option in her mind. Because of ASN, "she's able to be living on her own and doing things on her own without threat of being confined in a place she doesn't want to be."

"It's a stress reliever knowing you're not the only one out there to help Stephanie have the life she wants to have," Fields says. "Instead of worrying about her as a caregiver, I can worry like a mom." She gets to enjoy a friendship with her adult daughter like she had with her mother. ""Because she can be independent with ASN's help we can have separate goals, separate things we enjoy doing" without the other being forced to go along for the ride.

"I have learned so much from her," Fields says, from "watching her pull away and gain her independence with real determination."

NAN Profiles on 06/26/2016