BY AMANDA HEMMINGS

A woman who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 50 wants to change attitudes towards people living with the condition.

Sue Wylie, aged 58 and from Dorchester, used to keep her diagnosis a secret but turned her experiences into a theatrical play, which has now been made into a film.

The film is called ‘Kinetics, when Parkinson’s meets Parkour’ and tackles stigma and misunderstandings around the condition.

Ms Wylie said: “In the film, there’s a scene where I’m in a newsagent having problems getting money out of my purse and a man in the queue shouts at me for taking too long and accuses me of being drunk.

“At every screening of the film I go to, at least one person with Parkinson’s will come up to me afterwards and say, ‘that happened to me’. While I’ve not had that exact experience, I’m often tutted at for taking too long, and I get a lot of stares.”

Ms Wylie said that raising understanding as well as awareness of the condition is important to her, because it can only reduce the chances of people being put in upsetting or uncomfortable situations in the future.

The call for this change in attitudes comes after official figures released today by charity Parkinson’s UK for World Parkinson’s Day, April 11 and Parkinson’s Awareness Week, April 10-16.

The figures highlight the “huge toll” that reactions from the public have on those who live with the condition. that for the South West in particular, almost one fifth (19 per cent) of sufferers have felt or been judged for using a disabled parking space or toilet.

Three fifths (62 per cent) have been told that they ‘don’t look ill’, and six per cent of people said they’d been laughed at because of their visible symptoms.

Ms Wylie said that harassment for having Parkinson’s can “really knock your confidence at a time when it’s a daily battle to get out of the house.”

Parkinson’s UK is currently running a six-week campaign named ‘Parkinson’s Is’ which aims to inform and educate the public on the complexity of the disease.

Emma Cooper, area manager at Parkinson’s UK said that there are “40 symptoms” of Parkinson’s which people don’t know about.

She said: “There are currently 13,653 people in the South West alone living with the condition. Every hour two people in the UK will be told they have it.”

“But there is still such a low level of understanding around it.

“It’s not just the sufferers – it’s the friends, the family, the carers. It affects so many people.

“It is critical that the wider society know about Parkinson’s disease, so that they can all play a part in supporting them.”

Learn more about Parkinson’s Is campaign here: https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/parkinsons-is