I think this is the part I don't understand and perhaps this reflects our personal experiences, where we have grown up, etc. In my little corner of the universe even seeing an aged person with stooped posture, shuffling gait or shallow stride, or tremor...to me any of those things would look abnormal. In my mind aging has meant slowing down, more of a gingerly walk and a dowager's hump. I guess for me the only corollary I see outwardly then is slowed movement, oh and I will say, that most older people I have known do have that same spidery early PD handwriting change. I recall visiting my grandma when she moved into a senior's apt. and to look at the notes posted on the bulletin board by various residents, you'd think it was all by the same person.

In addition to our personal experiences, what else may sway us to think that normal aging and PD appear the same? I'd say that the classic drawing that accompanies The Shaking Palsy essay does a lot to our collective mind's eye when we envision old age. Anyway, this would make for an interesting psycho-social study by any means...

Laura