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Barbara, Anne and others, In one guise or another we keep asking ourselves and others 'why are we invisible' which is of course a euphemism for ' why does no-body care about us'. (These comments refer to the population at large and not to the wonderful body of family and friends who do care about us, thank God). Amoung the many reasons, I have identified these: The gap between feeling sorry for people with problems, and doing anything about it. This applies to the victims of natural disasters, and diseases and disabilities of all types. It applies to people caught in poverty traps, wars, aircraft crashes etc. etc. Caught between the need to be Mother Teresa and doing nothing most people default to doing nothing. If we are honest most PWP also default to the 'do nothing' position with regard to non-PD issues. In other words lets not take it personally. Secondly PD is percieved in the general populace as being some thing of an 'inconveniece' to the sufferer rather than the preditory, life altering thing it is. Most people, should they think of PD, think in terms of 'someone who shakes a bit'. There is little perception of what 'shakes a bit' means in terms of simply getting on with the stuff of daily living. There is even less awareness of the existance of, and problems associated with, rigidity, bradykinesia, dystonia and dyskinesia. Paradoxically recent up beat reports on successful surgery have probably given the false impression that the problem is solved. The trick is going to be how do we, as a community, get the media past the headline catching 'miracles' to the reality of our situation. And how do we communicate the truth without sounding as if we are whinging which will only turn indifference to rejection. The answers to these questions are beyond me. But they shouldn't be beyond the professionals. Any ex Madison Ave types out there? If so, over to you. Dennis ++++++++++++++++++++ Dennis Greene 47/10 [log in to unmask] ++++++++++++++++++++