/ 21 December 2010

Parkinson’s gets a tick from Mirren

Helen Mirren is calling for a revolution in attitudes to Parkinson’s disease so that sufferers are no longer mistaken for drunks or end up in social isolation because they are seen as “weird”.

The Oscar-winning actor wants education campaigns to tell people how to recognise the constant ­involuntary movements that characterise the degenerative neurological condition.

Mirren talked for the first time about how a close friend’s 10-year struggle with Parkinson’s had helped her realise the difficulties that sufferers face, including worsening physical disability, mental anguish and, for some, social stigma.

Mirren, who won the best actress Academy award in 2007 for The Queen, demanded an end to what the charity, Parkinson’s UK, describes as the “disgrace” of a “postcode lottery” in the National Health Service for sufferers, which affects services such as access to specialist nurses and physiotherapy.

“I have sympathy for their campaign for equitable access, absolutely,” she said. “It’s terrible that one person living 15 miles [24km] away from another does not have access to something while the other person does.

“A good friend of mine, a photographer whom I’ve known for 30 years, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s about 10 years ago. He’s very wobbly on his feet, uses a stick, has shaking hands, has an increasing problem with walking, falls and can’t rely on his balance. He’s physically very fragile. It has limited his life and restricts his place in the public world.

“Parkinson’s is a slow but inevitable process. It’s hard living with it on a daily basis. The difficulty facing people with it is that they never quite know ‘can I or can’t I do this today?’ That’s what makes normal life more and more difficult.”

Lack of public awareness means some sufferers are wrongly assumed to be drunk because their hands may be shaking or limbs flailing.

What to consider about Parkinson’s
“The most important thing is to bring people with Parkinson’s into our world and for the public to have a real understanding of it, as they’re beginning to have with autism,” Mirren said.

“You know, 20 years ago autism was this weird, spooky, terrifying thing and now it’s much, much better understood. It’s the same with Parkinson’s.

“The public here need to have a similarly open discussion about Parkinson’s. People like my friend are as valuable and important as you and I and anybody else and they must not feel that the world is such that they have to hide themselves away. That’s horrible and ridiculous.”

Those who passed a person with Parkinson’s on the street needed to start seeing them as no more unusual than someone with a cast on a –broken limb.

Steve Ford, the chief executive of Parkinson’s UK, said: “We are delighted that Helen Mirren is showing her support for our Fair Care for Parkinson’s campaign and understands the need to change attitudes to Parkinson’s.”

Parkinson’s UK is funding a new study, to be conducted by psychologist Dr Cathy Craig of Queen’s University Belfast, into whether sufferers can improve their balance, coordination and mood by using Nintendo Wii games consoles. “The Wii has the ability to help people improve their movement, not just fitness,” said Craig.

“People report improvement in their balance, which helps prevent falls that are common with Parkinson’s.”

Mirren helps promote Nintendo’s Wii Fit games. — Guardian News & Media 2010