On the occasion of World Parkinson’s Day, patient associations wish to inform in order to fight against prejudices.
More than 200,000 French people suffer from Parkinson’s disease, and yet this neurodegenerative disease remains unknown to the general public. More worrying this ignorance would promote exclusion, alarms the France Parkinson association on the occasion of the World Day dedicated to the disease which is held on April 11.
“Day after day, the testimonies of people affected by Parkinson’s disease accumulate”, explains the association. There is Coralie who is accused of being “a simulator” when a stroke of fatigue occurs, or Christian who sees his life change after his diagnosis at the age of 45 years. “Everything went into a spin, my personal life, my professional life, I was lost,” he says. So to see these dramatic situations disappear, the association calls on the French to “change their outlook on Parkinson’s”.
“The signs we are receiving show that the feeling of isolation and stigma is growing,” notes Florence Delamoye, CEO of France Parkinson. Now is the time to turn things around and that is why we call on each person to encourage them to change their outlook on the disease, but first and foremost on those affected ”.
Little-known consequences
France Parkinson’s first battle is played against prejudices and false perceptions that die hard. If almost all French people know that Parkinson’s disease causes involuntary tremors, barely 20% know that patients lose their sense of smell and less than 30% know the consequences of the disease on vision, reveals a survey conducted for the association.
And by comparing the situation of patients 3 decades earlier, more than half of French people think that patients are better integrated into society. A perception far removed from that of the sick. But also the reality according to France Parkinson who recalls that discrimination in employment related to disability, or state of health, represents 16.9% of all complaints.
Although the evolution of mentalities goes through society, Didier Robillard, patient and president of France Parkinson believes that it is “individual development, the ability to look at the other for what he is and not what he has ”, adding that“ the richness of the experiences of sick people is a common good that we can all share ”.
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