Keeping a Hobby Accessible for Your Person With Parkinson’s

I’m not a birdwatcher, but if I were I would probably spend time on Bird Forum, which bills (ahem) itself as “the internet’s largest birding community.”

Several years ago, Bird Forum member MG Phillips posted this question:

“I am a binocular user with the early stages of Parkinson’s. I now use 6x binoculars and find that these low power binoculars provide an acceptable image. As my disease progresses I will have to consider using image stabilising binoculars. Has anyone with Parkinson’s, experience of using image stabilising equipment?“

Phillips received over a dozen suggestions, including this one from a poster named Dan:

I have had Parkinson’s for about 5 years. And the setup that works very well for me is a pair of Zeiss 7×42 on a monopod with a swivel head.

The7x42’s large exit pupil helps a lot

The monopod is a Bogen 334B three (3) section monopod that utilizes a single handed trigger to quickly adjust the height.

If you do most of your birding looking fairly horizontal you don’t need a head. You can just attach a Leica universal binocular adapter to the monopod and you are in business. I have owned both the Leica and Zeiss universal adapters and I prefer the Leica model

If you look up into trees you need a swivel head between the monopod and the adapter. You can buy the simple (and cheap) Bogen 234RC Monopod Tilt Top head. Or a better and smoother unit would be the Bogen 700RC2 and just take the handle off.

The monopod costs about $100. The 234RC head costs about $40 and the Leica adapter costs about $100. So for about $240 you can whip that blankety blank Parkinson’s Disease.

My PD is so bad that I am unable to write at all. But the above described unit keeps me doing the thing I enjoy.

For the record, I have no idea what any of the stuff Dan describes is, and it is all probably obsolete in 2024. But it got me thinking about how to handle gift-giving season.

If a person with Parkinson’s in your life has a hobby, the hobby may become more challenging as their Parkinson’s progresses.

Is there equipment available to make the hobby continue to be accessible for your PWP? It’s worth an internet search.

Other people with that hobby may gather on an internet forum. Some of them have experienced the same challenges your PWP is facing — and could recommend specific gear to deal with it.

Search “[Name of Hobby] Forum” on Google to find a discussion board. Establish a profile on the site and post your question.
.
Reddit can also be a good place for crowdsourced suggestions. Here’s a Reddit discussion started by a woman seeking crochet hooks for a family friend with Parkinson’s.
.
Googling “[Name of Activity] Equipment for Parkinson’s” can sometimes bring up websites with good ideas. For example, this article came up when I searched for “Computer Equipment for Parkinson’s.”
.
Finally, don’t forget you can use Amazon as a search engine. Amazon delivered a big page of ideas when I searched for “Gadgets for Parkinson’s Patients.”
.
Happy Holidays.