Happy talkie talk, talkin' happy talk

Dysarthria is speech problem encountered by PWP. Symptoms include very quiet, soft speech and/or slow or incoherent speech. Since problems with the pitch and volume of speech are part of dysarthria, eventually speech becomes difficult to understand. The sufferer finds it hard to form the words that he wants to say. The result is pauses in the pattern of speech and the use of simple words, which are easier to find and express, along with simple sentence patterns to convey his thoughts.

Parkinson's attacks the speech muscles (called akinesia) causing them to weaken and become uncoordinated. Severity in PWP ranges from minor speech problems to incoherence. Unfortunately, estimates for PWP to have speech problems range from 60% - 90% and I am one of them! Seems odd because I have lived a charmed life and bad luck has always avoided me, until diagnosis about 3 years ago. However, I don't complain for three reasons (1) it won't help (2) my good luck has far exceeded my bad luck, and (3) nobody would be able to hear me anyway. So, I am learning to live with a speech impediment by remaining silent.

Silence is the safest course for anyone who distrusts their ability to speak.