In a silent planet, one voice can have dominion.

I used to be able to talk properly. I had no problem putting forth a case in court - piece of cake. Some of my speeches were the topic of conversation for days after, but now I stumble over the simplest sentences. I can sound like a moron. It is as if my brain slows down while my mouth tries to maintain a normal flow. I begin speaking and suddenly I can't find the word I want.I choke up, My mouth adopts a desert mode, and I end up substituting what I think is a synonym for the lost word and sometime it is, but there are times, too numerous, where the substituted word would be a synonym only on another planet.

Public speaking no longer makes me nervous. I don't do it any more.

I know I have mentioned the problem in past posts, but I keep finding out more information. What follows is a precis of an article on "Speech and Communication" by Angela Roberts-South

• PD can affect a person's ability to speak. Symptoms vary among PwP and can change as the condition progresses.
• PD affects a PwP's ability to think quickly, to manage multiple tasks, to find words or understand complex sentences
• PWP tend to speak with a flatter voice and make fewer expressive facial gestures which affect how listeners react to them
• Typically, the PWP's voice becomes softer and quieter and to some extent, unclear to the recipient

I have suffered or continue to suffer some, or maybe even all of these problems. I hate it when my brain refuses to co-operate. Fortunately, my brain keeps in stride with my ability to write. What is wrong with nature when it removes my principal form of socializing. I was a nervous speaker before PD, but now, I hardly speak at all. Roberts-South offers tips for improving communication but I am not going to list them. It is a day for complaining, not improving, but you can read the entire article at Parkinson's Disease Foundation As for my future as a public speaker, I think of what Mark Twain said, "there are two kinds of public speakers, those that are nervous and those that are liars"

To that I would add a third type "those who suffer from parkinson's and sound like morons"

Moan Zone is closed.