Helen Mirren: 'it's time we all understood Parkinson's disease'
Oscar-winning actor calls for a revolution in attitudes to sufferers of the degenerative neurological condition
Helen Mirren is calling for a revolution in attitudes towards Parkinson's disease so that sufferers are no longer mistaken for drunks nor end up in social isolation because they are seen as "weird".
The Oscar-winning actor wants education campaigns to tell people how to recognise the constant involuntary movements that characterise the degenerative neurological condition, which 120,000 Britons have.Speaking exclusively to the Guardian during a trip to the UK, Mirren talked for the first time about how a close friend's 10-year struggle with Parkinson's had helped her realise the difficulties which sufferers face, including worsening physical disability, mental anguish and, for some, social stigma.
Mirren – who won the best actress Academy award in 2007 for her performance in The Queen – demanded an end to what the charity Parkinson's UK claims is the "disgrace" of a UK postcode lottery in NHS support services for sufferers, such as access to specialist nurses and physiotherapy.
"I have sympathy for their campaign for equitable access, absolutely," she said. "It's terrible that one person living 15 miles away from another does not have access to something while the other person does.
"A good friend of mine, a photographer who I've known for 30 years, was diagnosed with Parkinson's about 10 years ago. He's very wobbly on his feet, uses a stick, has shaking hands, has an increasing problem with walking, falls and can't rely on his balance. He's physically very fragile. It has limited his life and restricts his place in the public world.
"Parkinson's is a slow but inevitable process. It's hard living with it on a daily basis. The difficulty facing people with it is that they never quite know 'Can I or can't I do this today?' That's what makes normal, everyday life more and more difficult, because, for example, you can drive perfectly well for five minutes and then suddenly not be able to do something you thought you could do."
Lack of public awareness means some sufferers are wrongly assumed to be drunk because their hands may be shaking or limbs flailing.
"That must be the worst thing – just awful, terrible and so mortifying – to see people looking at you [and assuming you are drunk]," said Mirren.
"People with Parkinson's are not some weird people on the edge of human experience."
She added: "The most important thing is to bring people with Parkinson's into our world and for the public to have a real understanding of it, as they're beginning to have with autism.
"You know, 20 years ago autism was this weird, spooky, terrifying thing and now it's much, much better understood. It's the same with Parkinson's."The public here need to have a similarly open discussion about Parkinson's. People like my friend are as valuable and important as you and I and anybody else, and they must not feel that the world is such that they have to hide themselves away. That's horrible and ridiculous."
Those who passed a person with Parkinson's on the street needed to start seeing them as no more unusual than someone with a cast on a broken limb.
"But we're a long way off that at the moment because the physical manifestations of it are such that we don't understand them when we see them," Mirren added.
Steve Ford, chief executive at Parkinson's UK, said: "We are delighted that Helen Mirren is showing her support for our Fair Care for Parkinson's campaign and understands the need to change attitudes to Parkinson's – among the public, healthcare professionals and in government. So often people's symptoms are misunderstood and people are treated without respect."
Parkinson's UK is funding a new study, to be conducted by psychologist Dr Cathy Craig of Queen's University Belfast, into whether sufferers can improve their balance, co-ordination and mood by using Nintendo Wii games consoles.
"The Wii has the ability to help people improve their movement, not just fitness," said Craig. "People report improvement in their balance, which helps prevent falls that are common with Parkinson's."Others find that the social side of using the Wii really improves their mood and combats the anxiety and depression that many people with Parkinson's experience."
Mirren helps promote Nintendo's Wii Fit games.
