William Baird wrote (and BTW welcome back Billy)
>It is different for everybody, as everyone has their particular reasons for
>telling and for not telling. I, for example, when unemployed, looking for
work,
>do not put the fact I have Parkinsons on my resume as Parkinsons does not
affect
>any of my work abilities
It is different for each of us, especially where employment is concerned.
I, for example mention my Parkinson's when first meeting a prospective
client. Of course after 12 years of PD, and experiencing a pronounced
'On/Off' syndrome as I do, my PD is impossible to hid and can affect my
ability to work at any particular moment. To date I have not lost one
client, but perhaps this is because all of them were referred to me by other
clients and all seemed to know about my PD even before I raised the subject.
It also helps that I put myself under no pressure to actually get any given
job because I am no longer working for a living, but more as a means of
keeping myself alive to the world outside of PD.
Considerations of employment aside, this touches on what I have always felt
to be one of the main reasons for not hiding PD. Hiding it takes up a lot of
time and energy that would be better employed getting on with life. It puts
up barriers between the PWP and society. 'Coming out' drops the barriers
and allows our relationships to resume their natural development.
12 years ago I 'came out' within weeks of being diagnosed. My family,
friends and acquaintances responded as individuals. Some, who for reasons
of their own were unable to deal with the situation, dropped quickly out of
view, never to be seen again; some were overwhelmed (and overwhelmed me)
with pity and these too, but this time by mutual consent, soon disappeared
from my social circle. But many of them accepted my new reality, made the
necessary adjustments (and are still making them) and by so doing normalised
my relationship to society as a whole.
These people are the "gold dust at (our) feet", and the sooner we 'come
out', the sooner we can identify them and start concentrating on the
relationships that are going to sustain us in the years ahead.
Dennis
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Dennis Greene 49/dx 37/ onset 32
"I am in the hands of the unknown God,
he is breaking me down to his own oblivion
to send me forth on a new morning, a new man."
(D.H. Lawrence)
[log in to unmask]
http://members.networx.net.au/~dennisg/
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