MY Story
I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1996 after a friend noticed that I was swinging only one arm when I walked. The disease progressed to the point where, in 1990, I had trouble walking: my body would just freeze. So I looked for tools to help me concentrate on moving my legs. I had a little stuffed animal that I could kick along the floor, thus giving my feet a job to do.
More recently, my speech became more and more difficult for people to understand. It was a combination of stuttering, trying to get the words out too fast, and mixing words up. A speech therapist handed me a popsicle stick with some round Velcro dots on it and instructed me to speak one word as I touched each dot. Another tool. The stick had me slow down, think about each word, and talk (albeit slowly) so that I could be understood.
And that’s when a friend of mine suggested that we should create talking sticks for other people who have trouble forming their sentences. Thus: My Talking Stick.
All profits are donated to charities supporting research for Parkinson’s Disease. No salaries are paid from our revenues.
For more information, please email Art Lieberman at
Support@MyTalkingStick.com