Bless you, Barbara Mallut!
When I re-heated the Parkie vs. PWP controversy several weeks ago I
knew that Parkie would win hands down simply because the only thing
against it is its lack of elegance. Broadly speaking, stuffed shirts
favor the term PWP for that reason, and there are few of them in the
Parkie community --- because PD knocks the crap out of Parkie and
Carepartner alike. You nail this problem effectively and more
delicately than I have.
Another, much tougher pet cause is my effort to win adherents to the
term Carepartner. (Note that I didn't simply say I'm trying to sell
the idea; to sell anything on this network these days is dangerous
business!) I picked up the term from a leading Parkie activist, Jim
Maurer, and was instantly attracted to it. After all, takers give and
givers take. In a richly rewarding relationship both partners give
-- and in the giving , receive. Furthermore, Carepartners suffer as
much and sometimes more than their Parkie partners, but the
understanding and attention THEY need is hidden by the terms Caregiver
and
Caretaker.
Thirty years ago at Polly's and my wedding reception my remarkable Aunt
Grace Loucks Elliott, who had retired as President of the national YWCA,
suggested that very old people like herself and the very young were
bonded by the ability to communicate well with each other because both
were confronted with profoundly new, uncharted lives. The same is true
of a Parkie and his or her Carepartner, and the dignity, the majesty
of their voyage together into the unknown is demeaned by the paltry
term Caregiver.
Elliott Haynes 71/3
TO HELL WITH PARKINSON’S !! LONG LIVE WET
BONES !!
Ten Ribald
Parkies Proverbs
17:22
