Paula,

No criticism intended. I get the need to join hands, heads, forces, etc. and I do like the idea on genomic studies. I just think we already are misunderstood by the majority of people walking around with "normal" brains, so I think going to the extent of pd only communities rather works against us. Guess I am saying society and government already marginalize us enough, and though not intended, feeds right into that. My instinct is to say, yes -great, sign me up but long term could be more than we bargained for.

I had a friend who had started a support group for people suffering from chronic illness and I thought that was neat. Not that I want to see others suffer but it helps to snap us out of that PD mindset and realize that we all face adversity to varying degrees but it's how we rise above it that is important. It got me thinking that it would be great if we could have an org for all of us: MS, PD, etc. with "life sentence" diagnoses and have an annual retreat of some sort with complementary therapies like massage, exercise, with nutritionists on hand. More a place of rejuvenation that of course in my perfect would be written out as a script and fully covered by insurance. The locale would be anywhere tropical, so long as it is French Polynesia every other year. We would be tripping over coconuts so we could prove or disprove how beneficial that is in one visit in a special needs Club Med (no pun intended). Doctors get this perk while "learning", so I say we take field trips to find curatives. Think of the exotic places tied to all those herbal studies on PubMed that lie in the Valley of Death...here we come!