Martha Perske is a self-taught illustrator with a gift for showing a person’s disability and natural beauty at the same time. She does it with a pencil — just a pencil.

Martha’s art is known worldwide for helping to give wings to the words of others who spoke out on behalf of people with disabilities. With Perske Pencil Portraits — 1971-1990, it was allowed to speak for itself.

Perske’s work has been recognized by most of the major disability organizations in the Western world. She illustrated major reports on developmental disabilities for Presidents Nixon and Carter, designed the International Year of Disabled Persons commemorative stamp, and drew the persons with disabilities for Marlo Thomas’ Free to Be A Family.

She was commissioned to present an autographed drawing to Diana, Princess of Wales, and she drew the illustration for an attitude-change campaign jointly sponsored by Johnson & Johnson and The Arc of the United States.

She received the Healing Community Arts and Letters Award at the United Nations in New York. Martha Perske and her husband, Robert Perske, author and advocate for persons with
disabilities, live in Darien, Conn.