A HOYLAND woman wants to raise more awareness about Parkinson’s disease after her partner was victim to ‘cruel’ remarks made by builders outside his home.
Allan Stanley, 59, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 22 years ago but he still has people staring and making remarks that he’s ‘acting drunk’ whilst walking his dogs.
He told his partner, 64-year-old Sharron Foley, about some of the remarks that were made and she admits that Allan was taken aback and upset.
She said: “He pushes himself to go out with the dogs because it’s something that keeps him going.
“He’s got a problem with his walking and talking and the other day when he went out with the dogs some repair workers started laughing at him.
“He came in really upset and I didn’t want to say anything as I didn’t want to make it any worse.
“Every day someone is staring at him thinking he’s drunk but he’s not.
“It’s really hard to see him upset because of how ignorant people are being.
“I just want people to be aware of what Parkinson’s is because it’s not fair.”
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects parts of the brain which become progressively damaged over numerous years.
The three main symptoms of the disease are involuntary shaking of parts of the body, slow movement, and stiff and inflexible muscles.
Around one in 500 people are affected by Parkinson’s disease and most people start to develop symptoms when they’re over 50 - though one in 20 first experience symptoms when they’re under 40.
