FEEDBACK FROM A PARKINSON’S

READING GROUP

• I found it really moving to read images so true for me, to see myself. I wasn’t expecting to feel so much, I never cry. And it wasn’t sadness that made me cry, it was being understood. It was being able to say to my husband this is my life and its not just me. It really meant a lot to me and I’m so glad I came today to read.

• I’ve had Parkinson’s 15 years, but I’ve learned new things reading the poems that I never knew about Parkinson’s. How having different symptoms feels physically, but also socially. How different presentations of Parkinson’s are judged. But also, that no two people with Parkinson’s are the same but they share a bond, a similarity. It was a pleasure to read and talk. The poems made it easy to see different perspectives, ask questions, even very personal questions. To feel safe talking about feelings and having people interested in what Parkinson’s means to me, that has been huge today, so important.

• I was crying from the first poem to the end, and not because they were depressing but because they were funny and uncanny, just exactly my life. I didn’t know it could be so powerful to see and hear your own life like that. It was amazing, I really loved it.

From Start at Belonging, an exercise to create your own Creative Dialogue with a partner.

You and your research partner will each create small artworks to introduce yourselves. If you already know each other well, use this exercise to share something about yourself your partner doesn’t know.