How technology can help people with Parkinson's

In the UK, around 145,000 people are living with Parkinson’s. Symptoms of Parkinson’s develop slowly over the years and can vary from person to person, but technology can help support you in managing some of the symptoms.
 
On Tuesday 8th March 2022, AbilityNet and Parkinson’s UK discussed how technology can help people with Parkinson’s. 

Whether you have Parkinson’s or care for someone who does, this webinar will be useful to you as it explores the technology barriers some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s can create and how to overcome them. The webinar shares some of the assistive technologies and free tools available that offer support including their free built-in adjustments, apps and resources.

What the webinar covers

• An introduction to how AbilityNet supports people with Parkinson’s to make the most of their tech
• Real stories of people with Parkinson’s and how AbilityNet provided solutions
• How Parkinson's UK is helping to close the digital divide with initiatives and activities for people with Parkinson's and their friends, family, or carers
• The tech barriers some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s can create and how to overcome them
• An interactive Q&A session to pose questions to the panellists

Watch the webinar recording or download a transcript:

Meet the Panellists

We spoke with a great panel of speakers from Parkinson’s UK and AbilityNet:

Parkinson’s UK

Parkinson’s UK is the national organisation supporting people with Parkinson’s as well as their families, carers and medical professionals. Over the past 50 years, Parkinson’s UK has been fighting for fair treatment and better services for those affected by Parkinson’s. On this webinar, we will be learning about the work of this UK charity from Ana Palazon. 

AbilityNet

Alex Barker has worked for AbilityNet for nearly 20 years and has recently become a Disability Consultant at the charity. Alex has Moebius Syndrome, a very rare condition that causes paralysis in facial muscles, club foot, missing limbs and sometimes cognitive issues too. So he understands a lot of the difficulties disabled people have when using technology.

Webinar FAQs

A recording, transcript, Q&A and slide deck are now available on this page.

This webinar lasted for 60 minutes.  

Find out more in our webinars FAQs and sign up to our next free webinar in our AbilityNet Live webinar series.

You can find an archive of our webinars on our website and we also offer paid role-based accessibility training.

Q&As from the webinar

The panel were able to answer many questions from attendees during the live session, which you can find by watching the webinar playback or accessing the transcript. Here are some additional questions we weren't able to answer at the time:

Question: My experience of Parkinson's is that mobile phones are hard to use because of tremors. Are there any brands/models of devices that you recommend to use that tailor for this? 

Alex Barker, AbilityNet: Most smartphones include accessibility features, which can help you use them with a range of impairments - and many are helpful for people living with Parkinson’s. If you don’t have good arm/hand function but you’ve still got the use of your voice it might be worth while seeing if you can use your voice to ask the phone to make calls or to send texts and WhatsApp messages. If you have tremors, you can certainly adjust the sensitivity of the screen on both IOS and Android to make it easier to use. You do have to make a decision though about which style of phone is going to be the best. Is it going to have buttons, or is it going to have a touch screen?

Q: For both Parkinson's and AbilityNet - Do you work with other not-for-profit organisations that work with BAME groups? Do you do work as a partnership? 

Chris Grant, AbilityNet: We support community groups and would suggest emailing chris.grant@abilitynet.org.uk so we can set up a call to arrange working together.

Ana Palazon, Parkinson's UK: Yes, we do work in partnership with many other organisations, some of which are specifically aimed at engaging with minority communities. We do this at local, UK and at specific country levels (England, Northern Ireland and Scotland).

Q: What are Parkinson UK’s rules about approaching PwPs by phone?

Ana Palazon, Parkinson's UK: From an organisational perspective and in line with data protection regulations, we need to ensure that everyone we contact has given us permission to do so.
We contact people in a variety of modes, e-mail, letters by post, but also including telephone calls, particularly where this is the preferred approach by the individual.

Useful resources

• My Computer My Way website
• How to use filter keys
• Read our blog on How changing the settings on your iPad and iPhone can help people with tremors and other dexterity difficulties
• Parkinson’s UK funding grants information 
• Parkinson's UK information on communication devices and technology
• AbilityNet Helpline: 0800 048 7642 or email us at enquiries@abilitynet.org.uk
• Parkinson’s helpline: 0808 800 0303 
• Make a referral for free IT support at home via AbilityNet 
• Save 10% on AbilityNet accessibility and inclusion training courses: use discount code AbilityNetWebinar10 
   

Do you have or care for someone with Parkinson's?

AbilityNet is working with Parkinson’s UK to help people with Parkinson’s learn how to get online and use digital devices.

Get tech support with Parkinson's