Jim used the Pathfinder from PRC for communication.

Jim was the only child of Lettie and Jim Marks. His parents were extremely supportive and caring, I met them when I was Jim's speech therapist when he was a young child at United Cerebral Palsy. His father passed away when Jim was an adult; this was very difficult for Jim. Jim attended Lathrop School in Canton in its first multi-handicapped classroom and graduated from McKinley High School. Jim took a college public speaking course and received an “A” in the class; he was a public speaker via his Pathfinder. Jim was employed by WestStark MRDD in Stark County. In addition to public speaking Jim was a self-advocate, advocate for others, and also started his own business through the Internet. Jim was an Ambassador for Prentke Romich. Jim was a regular guest teacher at Walsh University for two courses, Assistive Technology and Issues and Needs: Intervention Specialist. He was an Eagle Scout, avid bowler, and participated in Special Olympics.

Jim's passion for life- everything he did, he did with perseverance and quality because he never quit or gave up. Jim was heroic in everything- from the time he used a headpointer to laboriously type out words on an old typewriter as a child to the end of his life- his passion included a wonderful sense of humor and advocacy for all people.

The death of his father was very difficult for Jim and I know he used the Pathfinder to express his feelings and email people. But his biggest life-long challenge had been his lack of actual speech for communication and his device allowed him to be a complex, sophisticated communicator in a wide range of environments- teaching others, social interaction, journal writing.

Jim achieved many of his goals- of the ones I know-- he became a public speaker, was a self-advocate (won the Self-Advocacy award for Ohio), an advocate for people with disabilities, and started his own business. He did all of this with his AAC device. Jim wanted to be an effective communicator and he was able to achieve this for all of his goals.
Jim used his Pathfinder to complete all of his goals-- email, his own business, writing and delivering his speeches, he was a guest teacher for me every year in my Assistive Technology course and course, Intervention Specialist: Issues and Needs. Jim was a communicator and his device allowed him to do achieve this goal at the highest level imaginable. It allowed him to express his views on advocacy and self-advocacy, teach others, have a job, communicate with friends, recreate.

At the AAC Institute website I used the word “hero” to describe him when I wrote that memorial at the time of his death.

Submitted by:

Dr. Jeannie DeFazio, Walsh University