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I have been on my bandwagon too long, but will go ahead and add my voice again. This sugar coating is not something that I am thankful for....nor do I think that it gets us attention/funding. As I said in a semi-private message to a few people last month, the breast cancer folks did not get attention and funding by saying "clothing fits nicely with my prosthesis", March of Dimes does not show children doing "pop-a- wheelies" to attract attention, and AIDS did not attract attention by showing the artistic productions being developed by patients. We are hoping to educate the public as well as draw attention to the funding need. We are hoping to inform patients and families that are not on the internet or in active/ well moderated support groups. We are hoping to educate employers to be able to understand our workplace limitations as well as performance. We are hoping to educate the care givers who are allied medical professionals and our general practitioners who are not movement disorder specialists. We are hoping to educate our children so that they will understand what is happening to Mom or Dad. How many times do we have a new person sign on the the Parkinsn list who comments that "Mom thinks Dad isn't trying hard enough"....."Mom never seems to enjoy doing things anymore"........"All he wants to do is sit or sleep"......"She seems so depressed"....... How many times have the national foundations responded with "we have info to help you".........when our initial comment was "why do the illustrations show 80 year olds?"...........How much information do we get as to direction to SSDI? How much information do we get re: Medicare? Medicaid? Caregiver issues? Financial planning?. Do these things not affect us? We on this list talk, talk, talk about the Udall as though it was the only issue that exists that we need to pressure Congress. How much response was generated from this list to the posts this past summer and fall re: legislation for home care and insurance by an RN..........I don't believe I read a single response....and my archive search did not reveal one. As long as we are willing to sit back and say......."you mentioned PD, gee thanks" then we cannot complain that we have no assistance/information re: home health care needs; insurance needs; financial planning; support issues; the "inside story" for our children to learn about before the fact or during the struggle. I cannot speak for the single PWPs........but if there is a married couple on this list that can come forward and tell us(me) that the marriage has not been grossly changed by their Parkinson's diagnosis (or prediagnosis), I would like to hear that story. Somehow, I think what I would more likely hear is the "crisis" that have passed and perhaps how things have changed since we have weathered that time. If these stories are hushed and not told, we are doing nothing to help the newly diagnosed over the current hurdle or the next hurdle. Parkinsons is not just medication, research and icing on the cake stories. It is real life. Day to day coping with the change. Learning to live as a family with the change. Learning to communicate without body language. Learning to plan. Learning to accept and learning to hope. And although there are good moments, and good hours.......... there is a heck of a lot of wading through unidentifiable "stuff" that the world NEEDS to know about. Rita Weeks 54/9