People with Parkinson’s disease raise awareness via new social media trend

You might have heard of the #MannequinChallenge. It’s a social media trend making its way around the interwebs whereby people are filmed in freeze-frame.

Did you see it when Ellen pulled off the #MannequinChallenge at the White House? It featured a star-studded cast including Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Diana Ross and Bill Gates.

Yet there is a new video featuring a group of people who have Parkinson’s disease and it could be the most important challenge of this kind yet.

Parkinson’s NSW released the video recently and it highlights the challenges that come with having Parkinson’s disease.

If you have the disease, or know of someone who has Parkinson’s, (and there are around 700,000 people directly impacted by it) you’d know that symptoms include shaking, stiffness, movement issues and difficulties with balance among others.

The organisation created the video to create awareness of the disease and how it can impact a person’s every day life.

The video shows people who have Parkinson’s disease being filmed alongside those who do not and the tagline at the end is “Until there is a cure, life is our challenge”.

It’s incredibly powerful!

As the organisation says, its goal is to leverage the global social media craze of the #MannequinChallenge. If Barack Obama, Ellen DeGeneres and Paul McCartney can get involved, why can’t those with Parkinson’s disease?

What do you think of this video? Do you know of someone living with Parkinson’s disease? Tell us about how the disease has had an affect.