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7/23/96 10:40pm Hello, listmembers: I just received a message from the listserver asking me to re-send this message of 7/22. Somehow, it apparently was rejected by the computer, and not posted on the Daily Digest. Hope this attempt to re-send it works. from: Ivan Mfowethu Suzman ([log in to unmask]) . >LISTMEMBERS: Please consider responding to these thoughts from the coast of Maine. We need to change the way we think about some BASIC issues... > > I have been participating in our list since late March, 1996. Here are FOUR > ESSENTIAL OBSERVATIONS that I know that we must add to our consciousness: > > 1. PARKINSON's should be renamed DOPAMINE DEFICIENCY DISORDERS > >Is it as obvious to any of you as it is to me that "Parkinson's" is a confusing name??!! Why not recognize the obvious: we are affected by a GROUP of closely-related metabolic disorders. Why not use a name that EXPLAINS EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING TO US?? > > 2. WORLDWIDE, MANY OF US ARE PEOPLE OF COLOR > > I wonder if any anthropologist or epidemiologist has published anything on the frequency of Parkinson's (or more properly, Dopamine Deficiency Disorders) in various national origin, racial or language-speaker populations. Surely it is not a Europeans-only metabolic disorder. > > I wonder if Dopamine Deficiency Disorders vary by genetic type. > > 3. INCLUDED AMONG US ARE LESBIANS, BISEXUALS AND GAY MEN. > >The regular contributors to our list who are lesbians, bisexuals and gay men have never revealed their sexual orientiations. The emotional challenges that >these members of our community face are burdensome. All of us must learn to be inclusive and flexible. Opposite-gender couples are only one of many role models for our community. > >Our effectiveness in Washington will be enhanced if we are more sensitive to diversity. > > > 4. CONGRESSPERSONS, not CONGRESSMEN! > >We will all benefit from using all-embracing language. I wonder if women who are members of Congress or Senators will NOT be as positive about our Udall Bill if they are called "Congressmen!" > >In the world of publicy policy-making, our spokesPERSONS must be very careful to learn, and enjoy, language which HONORS DIVERSITY. > >from Ivan Mfowethu Suzman, Portland, Maine >