There’s a ride range of disabilities that most people aren’t familiar with, regarding the symptoms, the development, and the hardships that come along with each of them. I only know about the most common disabilities and illnesses, such as cancer, blind or deaf, paralyzed. I can imagine the many more that are out there that cause people to suffer with their daily routines. There are three disabilities that instantly come to my mind that I am sure I know nothing about. I have heard of these disabilities from various conversations or social media.
Spina Bifida came to mind. I work with someone who has Multiple Sclerosis, hearing it many times throughout my career path, I’ve always wondered what it consists of. Lastly, Parkinson’s Disease is a disability I rarely hear of. I could tell you one or two things that I might know about Spina Bifida or Multiple Sclerosis, but not one thing about Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s Disease is considered a disease that damages the nerves in the brain causing a wide range of symptoms.
These symptoms include shaking of the body, otherwise known as tremors or shaking of the muscles. This shaking is usually noticeable. Another noticeable symptom is the change in speech. There are a lot of stuttering and pauses, usually taking a longer amount of time for the words and sentences to get out. It isn’t impossible to clearly understand, but it can be difficult depending on the severity. There isn’t a cure for Parkinson’s Disease, although the right medicine can lessen the severity of symptoms.
Parkinson’s Disease isn’t a disease that can cause a tremendous amount of trouble that being paralyzed or being blind would cause, but you do encounter situations that are tougher than usual. Speech being one of the more severe symptoms, it would affect mostly everything I do throughout the weekend. I don’t live on campus, therefore I have full access to go anywhere I want and do what I want, not having to stay on campus. I take full advantage of this by running errands, hanging out with friends and family, and even working hours that are flexible for me.
Some of the situations that I might encounter that could be troublesome consist of going to the bank, ordering food, communicating with another person, and most importantly, doing my job efficiently. Communicating with people throughout these situations might need more time than usual, the other person might need to listen to me better to get a better understanding as stuttering can cause some miscommunication. A conflict that I might encounter while struggling in these places, is the patience of others. For example, in line at the bank, or at a fast food restaurant, people might get impatient and irritated with me, something I couldn’t control.
When someone has Parkinson’s Disease, how they get to and from place to place is fairly different than how a human being without this disability would get around. Throughout my weekend, anywhere I might go would be affected because of the way I walked. Having Parkinson’s Disease causes your legs to be turned outward, making it harder to walk at a normal pace or without difficulty. If I were to spend the day at the mall, it would take a lot of getting use to before frustration didn’t take over every person in the mall and myself.
My pace would be a lot slower than the crowds there, it would be easier to trip on anything around, and the stairs would not be an access to get me from floor to floor. Walking and speech aren’t the only two things that would cause me trouble but each of my muscles, such as my hands would involve a different obstacle for everything I do. At work, I am very hands on with each child, mostly helping them with their homework. If the muscles in my hands caused them to shake and only open or move to a certain extent, it would very embarrassing for me to have the children not understand, but also decrease the level of help I could give them with the ways they understood.
I do know of a staff member who works at Springfield College who has Parkinson’s Disease. I see her around campus and have communicated with her before. It is a disability that isn’t easy to cooperate with, or even deal with, and I can see the struggles that she goes through. Having Parkinson’s Disease may not cause as much trouble as a variety of other disabilities could, but it sure changes your daily routine and the outlook on your life, as well as how others see you.