Anyone who has met me knows that I talk fast. This has always been true, but as Parkinson’s gets more involved in my life, my quick speech has been amplified and mushed, I will go into more detailed later. I didn’t know how difficult it was for others to understand me until I started hearing people say things like, “You’re speaking so fast,” or “Can you slow down? I didn’t catch what you said.”
My first smartass Diva thought was, “I don’t need to slow down… they need to speed up”… jeez, that sounds awful… don’t give me that judgy look! It wasn’t until I began getting feedback from some of the various talks I do in the Parkinson’s community. Almost all the comments were the same, that I spoke waaaaa-y too fast, I was difficult to understand, but I was absurdly charming… and… charismatic… and… enchanting. Fine, so maybe those weren’t the exact words they used, I’m just paraphrasing.
I decided to see if there was any validity to these claims. So what better to do than film myself speaking at a conference… seems logical right? Let me tell you, if you don’t want to know what others see when they look at you… don’t do this. Quick side story…
I was having an early afternoon lunch with a fellow Parkie and she was describing a conversation that she had with her granddaughter who was 8 years old. They were enjoying a snack when the little girl says, “Grandma, why do you always do this when you eat”… she pretends to take a bite of food with the over-exaggerated slowness of a snail with a touch of a tremor. My friend responds, “I don’t eat like that.”
Now she wants me to come to her defense and confirm that her granddaughter was just a little manipulative con trying to get her believe something that wasn’t true. But I did see her eating just like a snail with a tremor. It wasn’t until I took out my phone and recorded her eating that she realized that her granddaughter wasn’t a fraud. Ok, back to my blog…
I love movies. I will watch films that portray a strong, silent, and powerful leading character, like James Bond, who was a fearless British secret agent, who had an insane poker face. He would just let the other people in the room talk and he would just sit there, fully listening to what they say, but then responds with a one-word answer. How did he do that?
Now, you might be saying, “Then why don’t you just slow down when you talk?” or “Sometimes, less is more”. Well silly goose, if it was that easy, I could just do that… but it’s more than that. What do you think about that? See! That is what I am talking about. I struggle to find the right words, I repeat my sentences, I stutter on certain phrases and I have completely lost the ability to say ‘Google Calendar’. It comes out, like “Goo-alendar”. But at the end of a day, all you can do is laugh at yourself, because it’s just one of the things that’s become my new normal and let’s face it… I’m not a British secret agent.
Yep you described my voice exactly but I have not ventured back into Public speaking at all Lol . Also had DBS and combining that with Sugar I my voice goes into hyperactivity mode. In three years I want to be understood at my 60 birthday Bash I am reluctantly going back into Speech Therapy.
Great Blog by the Way
Cheers
Michael
Thanks for sharing, Michael!
I have also heard that the Lee Silverman (LSVT) program can be very helpful, although I haven’t tried it yet myself. At Rock Steady Boxing we start each day’s workout by tossing a ball to each other across a circle. Every time you throw it you have to say the name of the person you’re throwing it to, which is great practice at speaking loud and clear, as well as learning everybody’s name.
What a great activity! Thanks for the suggestion.
Thank you for sharing your story. Besides the restless legs and the numbness of my left hand, my quick and slurred speaking was the third indicator that something was wrong about 8-10 years ago. Now that I can hardly be understood by anyone (unless there is no other noise in the room and no dyskinesia) it gets lonely when hanging around friends who don’t have PD and can talk normally and don’t understand what I am trying to say.
My grandson (4 at the time) asked me why do I sometimes have an ugly face when I am playing a game or when I a sleepy. I tried to explain this happens when I am having problems with my body moving when I try to speak or am tired. I told him this is due to a problem with my body motions from Parkinson’s (like I really believed I could fully explain dyskinesia and medication fluctuations with my weakened voice to a 4 year old. He said “I think you look funny and you make me laugh, grandpa. Do you want to play Pokémon cards again?”
I love how honest children can be.
You get ugly face. I call mine resting bitch face. Just one of those things I have to think about just to look normal.
it;’s so funny to think that you talk so fast. because, when i “hear’ you online, it feels like a very relaxed, endearing
tone.
Ha! That’s how I sound in my head!
🙂
Allison, I have the same problem. Lee Silverman voice therapy helped me.
I’ve heard great things about that program. I will check it out. Thanks for your comment.
Hi Perky Parkie,
Yes, I agree you are always able to shed light on another symptom of PD.
As for me, I am already a monotone speaking person and when in “off mode” of my PD, my voice gets even lower. On top of being monotone, I tend to hide my mouth with my hand when I talk, which makes one on one conversations difficult.
Looking forward to your next post.
You look beautiful up on the podium….
CHEERS!!!!
Cory
Being Monotone can make it also difficult to understand. That’s so true
I can relate to your topic very much so.. I find that more frequently, that as my day winds down, my ability to speak clearly, diminishes.
The words lose their crispness and feel rounded on the edges and soon become somewhat slurry….
At the same time, it feels like there’s a mass exit of words that have been sitting dormant in my head and they just drop into a sentence, uninvited and not a real ‘fit’ to what I’m trying to say… and delivered at the rapid pace of an auctioneer understudy.
An elderly gentleman stopped me once when we were in conversation and calmly said, “young man, I’m deaf in one ear and can barely hear in the other and you’re talking like a runaway train, please slow down and speak a little louder.”
Very true PerkyParkie…sometimes, you just gotta laugh….the new normal…who’d a thought this was part of the gig…should read the fine print!
Words lose their crispness… that is a perfect way to describe it! Thank you for your comment Shane!
Very amusing reading and sounds just
Like me. I struggle with some words and sentences, for instance my mum
Comes out as mmmmum! It’s usually happens when I’m tired and I sometimes describe the item I’m talking about if I can’t remember the name!
Heather,
Word searching! Gets me every time too!
So is the video of you speaking at a conference something you’d be willing to give your biggest fans access to? Maybe via a private link? I suspect we’d like it better than you did and it would be great to see/hear you living that aspect of your life/mission.
Dale,
Not a chance! Ha! I’m sure that there will be an opportunity to hear me talk in the community in the near future!
Another awesome little essay. Once again, you pop up with words of wisdom on another PD thing which has just reached out with a little zen tap strong enough to shake my once unshakable sense of myself. So…Not much else to say except: Thank you!
Thank you, Mark! Happy to hear you enjoyed it!