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Reno on Parkinson's: Limiting, but not debilitating MIAMI (Reuters Health) - Living with Parkinson's disease has an impact on one's life, but it need not take a person out of mainstream society, Janet Reno said here at the Movement Disorders Society's Seventh International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders. "This (disease) has been an extraordinary experience for me," said Reno, the United States attorney general from 1993 to 2001, during the Clinton administration. She said the limitations she faces due to her condition have forced her to learn new skills. For example, although her handwriting is less legible than it used to be, she composes letters on her computer keyboard and "the spell-check works just fine." Reno first noticed her symptoms in 1995, when she was walking near the Capitol building in Washington, DC, and saw a tremor in her hand. In October of that year, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and publicly disclosed the diagnosis shortly afterward. "People were aghast that I made my condition public," she said. However, she said, she saw no alternative other than public disclosure. A reaction she found amusing was the query, from several people, about the impact of stress on Parkinson's disease. "Well, after I got Parkinson's disease, I dealt with Elian, the independent council and the Oklahoma City bombing," she said. "None of these had any effect on my Parkinson's disease." She referred, respectively and not in chronological order, to a controversy regarding a Cuban boy, Elian Gonzales, stranded in the United States; an independent council under the auspices of Kenneth Starr investigating several aspects of the Clinton administration; and the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. Both detractors and supporters often raised the question of stress during her campaign for governor of Florida. Reno acknowledged that her Parkinson's disease had an effect on the campaign, but she said the impact resulted from other people's speculations rather than any limitations she herself felt. "Before I decided to run for governor, I asked my physicians if they felt my condition would affect my ability to hold public office," she said. When they gave her the go-ahead, she in turn made her doctors available to the press to answer questions. Despite her defeat in the primaries, Reno said she has no regrets, and she urged those present to support people with similar disabilities in their aspirations. This is one of several reasons, she said, that she has chosen to be open about her condition. "It's extremely important to recognize that people with disabilities can make a difference," and that they have a contribution to make, she said. Crediting her own physicians, she said, "It's amazing what you can do with a physician encouraging you." By Paula Moyer Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. Last Updated: 2002-11-11 13:04:32 -0400 (Reuters Health) http://www.reutershealth.com/ janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit primarily perky, parky pd: 55-41-37 cd: 55-44-43 tel: 613-256-8340 email: [log in to unmask] smail: 301-375 Country Street, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0 a new voice website: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn