Q+A: Peter Dunlap-Shohl
Q: How does a sense of community help you with PD?
A: Social isolation can be a serious problem for people with PD. Symptoms like difficulty with speech and loss of facial expression hinder communication. You have substantial incentive to hole up. Engaging with others, say, through a support group, can help relieve the sense that you are battling this difficult disease alone.
Peter, a cartoonist, blogger, and author of My Degeneration, a graphic-novel memoir about Parkinson's shares his humorous comics at offandonakpdrag.blogspot.com.
Additional Action Steps
- Join a support group. You help others as they help you.
- Keep doing things you love, even if you don't do them as well.
- Do what you can to try to reduce stress.
- If you freeze and can’t walk forward, try walking backward. Surprisingly effective!
Orginally printed in MoreThanMotion, Spring 2017.
