Those are excellent questions. I know it is frustrating to hear people extoll the wonders of involvment and yet leave no bread crumbs for others to follow. I am probably not the best to offer advice as I have mostly stumbled into the whole thing my accident and there are others who have taken a far more intentional path.

Where you live makes some difference. Some places have more active local groups than others. Recently I have (for instance) contacted the speaker of our state House of Representatives to ask him for help in getting April designated as Parkinson awareness month in my state to coincide with national and international designations. I was amazed at how helpful he has been and i am feeling fairly confident we will get it done.

If you are not a member of PAN I would suggest you join and actively participate in lobbying your local lawmakers, PAN will provide direction.

PDF offers training for advocacy. You can apply for that. I think it is like a snowball, once you begin. Those are only a couple of ideas, there are a great many more and I hope people will offer them because I honestly believe it is the best medicine we have available. It is completely restorative and, I am personally certain, neuroprotective. On top of that it is great fun.