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Here is the info. I promised yesterday. The "Stick" I am talking about is really designed as an aid to help people overcome "freezing". It was produced by a group in Queensland, Australia, called Technical Aid To the Disabled (TAD-Q), which is a non-profit group. They were approached by an occupational therapist enquiring if it was possible for one of their volunteers to design and make an aid for a PWP, to help the person innitiate the first step. The purpose of the aid was to provide a visual and physical barrier which the PWP could see and traverse. A man called John Green finally came up with a modified walking stick called the "Kickstart Stick". The objectives were to come up with an aid that did not trip the PWP. It also had to be lightweight, portable, simple and effective to use. John started with an ordinary walking stick and proceeded to make the modifications. These required a spring loaded extension to be attached to the stick. This extension or arm was extended by downward pressure on the handle of the walking stick. To retract the arm, the user released the pressure. I have seen people using one of these, in fact I carried one back (and experimented using it) with me from the 2nd Multidisciplinary Conference on PD in Queensland, in 1993, to use as a demo model in our WA parkinson's office. Whilst it is and can be used successfully, there are some potential problems. For instance, if you press too heavily on the handle, the extension arm at the bottom of the stick can pop out (at right anges to the stick--as it is supposed to do) but when when you don't want it to! If you are wearing trousers, it can catch on to your trouser leg (if you are holding it too close to the body). At the time, John was trialling a similar stick which instead of the physical arm which popped out, a button under the operators hand could, by pressing on a button, activate a beam of light (battery powered) which shone across the users pathway. This was especially good at night, naturally. I have never seen how or if he developed this model any further, but it did have advantages, not the least of which is that it could be used as a regular walking cane as well, because the beam of light was only operated by pressing a certain spot, not by the the ordinary grip on the handle. Perhaps the Queensland people on the List could check into the availablitity of these sticks? When enquiring, quote job No: 91/245. The address of the TAD-Q Inc.is PO Box 257, Annerley, Queensland 4103 AUSTRALIA Ph: 07 397 8987 Fax 07 397 9020 Joy Graham (CG Bob, 57, 8+ years) PS. Ask me about the FOURTH MULTI-DISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON PARKINSON'S DISEASE in Perth, Western Australia, September 12-14th 1997.