Marcus Harrison Jr. Leadership Award - Ability360

Marcus Harrison, Jr., (Comanche)

Former Chief Executive Officer of Native Health, located in Phoenix, Arizona was instrumental in arranging the community Talking Circles in 2004 that led to the first Urban American Indian Disability & Vocational Rehabilitation Summit the following year and has continued successfully each year since, now known as the American Indian Disability Summit. Mr. Harrison was a leader in the community and strongly advocated for those who needed a voice.

The Marcus Harrison, Jr., Leadership Award was established to acknowledge others working to keep that voice of advocacy for American Indians with disabilities alive through his/her leadership and dedication. “The inspiration behind the painting of "A Warrior’s Vision" comes directly from Marcus Harrison himself. He wanted to do as much as he could to make a better road toward connecting health concerns of American Indian people with education and availability of health services. As the artist of this oil painting, I made every effort to capture the visions, ideas, spirit and plans that Marcus Harrison shared with me. The painting is of a traditional dancer; the dancer is represented as a spirit painted in black and white. His top feathers are a sign of his bravery and his eagle feather visor is to help his vision stay sharp as the eagle’s eyes to see danger, adversity and the enemy. The eagle plume he wears is to honor his grandmother, his mother, his female relatives, and all American Indian women. The main part of the picture is his shield, which is the only part of the picture that has color.

The emblem depicted on the shield represents the Comanche Nation, of which Marcus was a member. The meaning behind the colorful shield is this, although this young man has begun his journey along the spirit path, his vision, ideas, spirit and plans are still alive. Oyate kin (the people) are keeping his vision alive, such as the people who are involved with the American Indian Disability Summit; they are helping to continue this vision. I believe this is the greatest honor to my young brother."

Mitakunye Oyasin
Rush, Artist, Great Sioux Nation

Sarah Cedarface - Marcus Harrison Jr. Leadership Award Recipient for 2025

Sarah Cedarface (Oglala Lakota) lives with mixed quadriplegia cerebral palsy and has dedicated her life to helping the disabled community, on and off the wheelchair basketball court.

Sarah was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in rural South Dakota at an Indian Health Service (IHS) hospital. Like many IHS facilities, the hospital was underfunded. Sarah’s birth was complicated and occurred without the appropriate medical team present. She was born without a heartbeat or the ability to breathe. It took nearly ten minutes to revive her. This traumatic birth resulted in low muscle tone and significant developmental delays. Despite doctors' low expectations, Sarah was determined to defy the odds.

As a child, Sarah’s physical limitations were evident, but so was her intellectual potential. Before the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), she was one of the few students with visible disabilities to be mainstreamed, supported by a full-time aide. She quickly tested as gifted, becoming an early example of a twice-exceptional student. She was pulled out of class for speech, physical, and occupational therapy, as well as the gifted program. However, she dreamed of joining in gym class and playing basketball.

Attending Stanford was a transformative experience for Sarah. Despite profound speech difficulties and challenges with daily living tasks, she found her voice and excelled academically. She immersed herself in campus life, became a student leader, and graduated with honors. Sarah completed her honors thesis on “Interability Communication.” This was the first known empirical research on spoken interactions between disabled and nondisabled individuals.

After graduating from Stanford, Sarah attended law school at Arizona State University. Though she did not complete her Juris Doctorate due to funding limitations, Sarah learned the nuances of legal research, case analysis, and statutory interpretation, which she applied in her professional and advocacy work. She briefly practiced tribal law as a student attorney in the Gila River Indian Community and Ak-Chin Indian Community Tribal Courts as well as assisted with a variety of Indian Law cases. Sarah was deeply committed to pro bono work and earned the law school's Highest Pro Bono Distinction due to her extensive volunteer legal work at the Arizona Center for Disability Law, Native Vote, and Maricopa County Health and Human Services.

After law school, Sarah began her professional career as a Special Needs Specialist at the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. There, she mastered the art of grant writing and was influential in drafting the federal grant proposal that ultimately led to the creation of Salt River's Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Program. Since then, Sarah has helped many nonprofit organizations obtain grant funding and has served as a federal grant reviewer for tribal behavioral health programs. She is proud of the opportunities she built for Indigenous people with disabilities.

One summer, Sarah’s daughters spotted a flyer for a recreational wheelchair basketball league and encouraged her to join. With some hesitation, Sarah found the courage to try — and soon discovered a new passion. Thanks to her wonderful coach, Justin Walker, wheelchair basketball quickly became Sarah's favorite activity. To her delight, women’s wheelchair basketball leagues allow able-bodied players to participate, and her younger daughter eagerly joined Sarah on the court.

Since 2023, Sarah and Mary have played for the Ability360 Phoenix Mercury, a nationally-ranked women’s wheelchair basketball team. They have competed together at numerous tournaments including the NWBA National Finals in Indiana. Sarah’s severe disability makes her stand out on the court, as she faces significant challenges maneuvering her wheelchair with limited arm and hand control. Despite these obstacles, she has become a key player and is currently a team captain. Her perseverance and heart led to her receiving the 2024 National Wheelchair Basketball Association Sportsmanship Award, an honor she treasures deeply.

One moment from that season particularly stands out in Sarah’s memory. After the team won its first game of the year, she turned to her coach and said, “That was the first time I won anything.” Her daughter quickly corrected her, saying, “No, mom — you won at life.” Those words resonated deeply with Sarah. Sarah will forever be grateful for adaptive sports, her family, and her team, which have shown her that true victory lies not in winning games but in overcoming life's greatest challenges and helping others do the same.

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