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Trembling hands: Parkinson’s disease and Medieval writers

Deborah Thorpe

• 26 September 2014
  8.20pm - 8.35pm

• York Medical Society (map)

• FREE admission
  No booking required

• Wheelchair accessible (through the garden)

Event details

Before the invention of the printing press all written material, from beautiful books to the most mundane documents had to be copied out by scribes. Many of these writers were professionals, who earned a living by their handwriting.

One of the most noticeable symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease is a tremor, which can affect the person’s ability to write.  So, what happened to these professional writers if they developed Parkinson’s Disease, or another condition that affected their movement? Did they automatically lose their income – or did their responsibilities merely change? How did they understand what was happening to them?

This is one of twelve thought-provoking short talks throughout the evening at York Medical Society on all things health-related by researchers from across eight different departments at the University of York. The talks are divided into three sessions over four hours, starting at 5pm and ending at 9.20pm, which are interspersed with refreshments and a chance to speak to the researchers, some of whom have been researching for years and some of whom are just at the start of their careers.