"Stephen is a humble sincere individual who inspires the likes of you and everyone who has a a passion for Art. Stephen understands that his Artwork provides happiness for the young and old regardless of special needs.
He enjoys listening and dancing to music in his spare time and resides at the gallery two days a week, meeting and greeting people who come to visit his personal and intimate showroom.
Stephen has grown into a confident young man who has climbed through the barriers that might have hindered him in the past.
He has great respect for others and most importantly for himself and is generally a happy individual who has overcome a difficult time when growing up. Through this he has shown us all that no matter what difficulties we are confronted with, however small, you still can be successful and achieve whatever goals you have in mind.
He continues to draw on a regular basis as this is his passion and enjoys to share with everyone how he sees the world in his eyes. He also continues to travel around the world committing to raising awareness about Autism and thoroughly enjoys travelling, especially if it involves flying in the helicopter, where he can see the city with a bird's eye view. He absolutely loves that."
Growing up with Stephen as his slightly older sister seemed really no different
to me than any other sister growing up with her little brother. I got quite
used to Stephen's early tantrums and to his screaming fits - as well as his
scribbling in my school books - though for some reason my teachers did not then
spot his talent - unless perhaps in the notebooks used for Art.
My extra responsibilities, learning to be that bit more reliable and to draw on
a deep reserve of patience, all were part of the big sister role I was growing
into. Our relationship made no difference to me until when I reached my teens
and like all my friends experienced the occasional moment of insecurity or
spasm of jealousy. At school I would get asked about my relationship with
Stephen and gradually as I compared their stories about their siblings with my
own, I realised how lucky I was - I had something very special.
I am not sure how others looking in perceive our relationship. The two of us
behave very differently in public than we do when we are at home. I think that
to those who do not know us well, we may seem a bit formal and even distant
with one another and that this has something to do with Stephen's autism. This
assumption would be quite wrong. We have never taken one another for granted
and instinctively we know what we mean to each other. We are really close but
we never tread on one another's toes.
Our mother gave us a firm but completely loving upbringing. She is the rarest of
diamonds. In her role as both mother and father to us she held our family
together and made that family a very close one. She taught us to be
independent, when necessary to have the courage to be headstrong and always to
believe in ourselves no matter what the setbacks. She taught us also to be
proud of all our achievements however small and insignificant they might have
seemed at the time. Her ever- present nurturing love and the support Stephen
has found in others has made him flourish in ever more extraordinary ways.
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