Nearly half of the people living with Parkinson’s in Canada are women – so why do we still imagine that Parkinson’s is an older, white, male condition? One contributing factor to the stigma is the medical textbook illustration of Parkinson’s, which depicts an older, white man going through the stages of Parkinson’s.  

Barbara Salsberg Mathews, an illustrator who lives in Guelph, Ontario, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2020. She has re-illustrated the textbook image of Parkinson’s with six new versions, all featuring women of different races. “These images reflect my intent to education everyone and to raise awareness that yes, Parkinson’s also affects women,” says Barbara. “And not just white women – women of every race, around the globe.”  

Barbara illustrated the women wearing the same colour of clothing to help the viewer focus on the physical changes that generally occur as Parkinson’s progresses. The women are also younger than the textbook image, to reflect that Parkinson’s does not only impact older people, and there is a growing trend of people being diagnosed before 50 – known as early onset Parkinson’s. In the future, Barbara plans to re-illustrate images with men, featuring more racially diverse and younger images.  

Since her diagnosis, Barbara has become an advocate for living well with Parkinson’s – especially through art and dance. In 2023, she posted a video to Twitter that featured her dancing in her kitchen, sharing how living with Parkinson’s reminds her how precious life is. That video became a connection point to many Parkinson’s organizations, and through her own work and these partnerships, she has been spreading the joy of art, dance, movement, including mime, with people living with Parkinson’s. She was recently the recipient of a CARE Fund grant from Parkinson Canada to fund her “Mime over Mind” project, that uses mime as a therapeutic tool to help people with Parkinson’s manage their symptoms. She also released a collection of illustrations through a book (available in paperback and online) entitled, “What Parkinson’s Feels Like” that showcased what Parkinson’s symptoms felt like to many people around the word.  

As for the new illustrations of women going through the 5 stages of Parkinson’s, Barbara hopes that health care professionals will use them when educating patients and each other, to help challenge the stigma and the stereotypes that currently exist.  

The images are free to download and use, with artist credit, here:  

Barbara Salsberg Mathews is the original artist of the images.