Ronald Reagan

“ While these medical advances are encouraging, it is important that there be greater public awareness of what it means to have Parkinson's disease. We must let people with Parkinson's disease know that we understand when they have trouble walking through a doorway or when the disorder causes their hands or their heads to shake uncontrollably. A smile may be all the encouragement they need to relax enough to resume normal movement. I commend the courage of Americans who refuse to be vanquished by Parkinson's disease. ”

“ For most of us, movement is part of our lives which, though essential, we often take for granted. But for nearly half a million Americans, every step, every gesture is fraught with apprehension. These people suffer from Parkinson's disease, a movement disorder that affects people as they grow older. ”

“ In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eightyfour, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighth. ”