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BETH MARKS, PhD, RN, FAAN
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Beth Marks, who contributed Chapter 9, is co-director of the HealthMatters Program, Associate Director for Research, Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Developmental Disabilities (RRTCDD), and Research Associate Professor, Department of Disability and Human Development, College of Applied Health Sciences University of Illinois at Chicago.
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Marks has addressed the lack of disability-related content and experiences in the education of most healthcare professionals and has had a prominent role in advocating for the inclusion of individuals with disability in nursing and nursing education. Many schools of nursing have automatically excluded from consideration applicants to their programs who disclose a disability. She views the inclusion of individuals with disability in nursing education and the retention of nurses with acquired disabilities in nursing practice as important strategies to increase nurses’ understanding and knowledge about caring for individuals with disability they encounter in their practice. Marks’s advice has been invaluable in working with faculty and administrators to determine what steps and strategies they should take to be fair to applicants and compliant with the law.
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Marks coproduced Open the Door, Get ’Em a Locker: Educating Nursing Students With Disabilities, an award-winning documentary about the experiences of nursing students with disability. The documentary serves as a forum for voices of nursing students, faculty, academic administrators, and agency nursing staff to discuss the trials and triumphs of shifting perspectives and transforming nursing practice by healthcare providers with disability.
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Marks has published and presented widely on the topic of disability and health professionals with disability, in journals and at conferences that reach multiple disciplines. She has been recognized for her contributions through a number of awards. She was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing for her contributions to nursing.