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Fall by mischange. The damage inflicted by Parkinson's disease is a reminder of how far we can fall by mischance. Image derived from the graphic novel My Degeneration: A Journey Through Parkinson's by Peter Dunlap-Shohl.
Source publication
Parkinson’s disease characteristics can create a self-perceived sense of stigmatization and disapproval by others, thereby affecting self-perceived autonomy. This study investigated the metaphors related to the loss of autonomy and stigma in stories and drawings of Parkinson’s disease. We compare a contemporary first-person illness narrative and -d...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... I do miss in Jonathan Franzen's story is that the correction can be greater than Parkinson's disease. Rage about my hand and arm also arise in me, but I can only remain a spectator trying to do the opposite of what Parkinson's does. I find the drawing in Fig. 3 harsh and explicit because this face looks too frightened. There is no beauty in Parkinson's disease, but there can be beauty in me as a person. I am a clown with Parkinson's disease, but one with a smile, knowing my hand is moving in the wrong ...
Context 2
... novel "My Degeneration". Figure 2 depicts the 'Parkinson's prism', a metaphor that demonstrates how disease alters a person's ability to make 'sense of a distorted and parous reality' (p. 50). Therefore, the damage inflicted by Parkinson's disease is a reminder of 'how far we can fall by mischance'. This is depicted in another cartoon shown in Fig. 3. This cartoon states that the frailty that comes with this disease poses questions 'philosophy can only answer in ways civilized people find frightening' (p. 58). Fig. 1 Drawing depicting the Parkinson's disease experience. A Visual representation of the Parkinson's disease experience as provided by the interviewed person with ...
Context 3
... this study the aforementioned metaphors of Parkinson's disease pinpoint loss of autonomy and stigma, because the metaphors depict extreme experiences of losing control (Table 1). More examples are the drawing by the interviewed patient illustrating 'strings being spread chaotically' (Fig. 1A) and the cartoon depicting a 'fall by mischance' (Fig. 3). These selected metaphors, and particularly the patient narrative, are chaos stories because "(…) the body telling chaos stories defines itself as being swept along, without control, by life's fundamental contingency" 5 . (p. 102). Arthur Frank has argued that 'In the chaos narrative, consciousness has given up the struggle for ...
