![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_paul-savvyjpeg.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPaul Roberts hopes \u2018Savvy Shuffle\u2019 campaign will bring about change<\/p>\n
Paul Roberts, a Hull man living with Parkinson’s, is behind the Savvy Shuffle awareness initiative(Image: supplied image)<\/p>\n
A Hull man living with Parkinson\u2019s who was recently turned away from an Old Town pub after being mistaken for \u201cbeing drunk\u201d is hoping to see an increase in understanding. Paul Roberts was upset to be refused entry by a doorman at the venue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the first time it\u2019s happened,\u201d said Paul, of Sutton<\/a>. \u201cI have to say that when the pub realised, they were really lovely, they\u2019ve been so nice and I can\u2019t praise them enough.<\/p>\n \u201cThe landlord was mortified when they saw a post about what had happened on Facebook<\/a>.\u201d Paul was diagnosed ten years ago this month with Parkinson\u2019s<\/a> and can have good and not-so-good days – when Hull Live spoke to him, we arranged to call him back after his medication \u201ckicked in\u201d and he felt better about chatting. He explained how the incident at the pub was not an unusual occurrence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just the assumptions people make because of how you walk or how you sound,\u201d he said. \u201cI went into a pub one day and someone said to me, \u2018you\u2019ve had a good time\u2019. I said, \u2018I\u2019ve not been anywhere\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI went to Zebedee\u2019s Yard for an event and I needed the toilet immediately, as can sometimes happen, but all the toilets were occupied. I said to the lady on the entrance that I needed to go to a nearby pub to use the toilet and she said, if I left the venue, I couldn\u2019t come back in – even though I explained about my situation.<\/p>\n READ MORE: New scan could discover Parkinson’s ‘7 years before symptoms’<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI never did get back in to the event. It was my birthday as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The latest incident happened after Paul, worried about a relative being in hospital, decided he would \u201cgo and have a quiet drink\u201d and was \u201cswaying quite badly\u201d because of his Parkinson\u2019s. \u201cI explained the reason why to the doorman but I couldn\u2019t make him understand.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul said: \u201cIt\u2019s about the fourth time it\u2019s happened in different places. Five years ago I was in Whitby with two friends and it was a really hot night.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d gone outside and left my phone and keys to the B&B where I was staying in the pub. The doorman presumed I was drunk and wouldn\u2019t let me back in again; I was stood there for ages before my friends came out to find me.\u201d<\/p>\n After the latest incident, Paul was reassured by the Hull pub that the security staff would be trained about possible medical conditions or hidden disabilities that might affect how a patron may present. He has also come up with a \u201cSavvy Shuffle\u201d campaign that he hopes will challenge assumptions and raise awareness of how Parkinson\u2019s can affect movement, balance and speech – symptoms that are often misunderstood.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just Parkinson\u2019s,\u201d Paul said. \u201cThere are people with MS, other issues that people suffer, and people need educating about it – just because a person is staggering doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they are drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s friend Debra Dakeyne, who lives near Cottingham<\/a>, has come on board with the Savvy Shuffle awareness campaign. She said: \u201cPaul rang me about what had happened at the pub in Old Town.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said they\u2019d stopped him and pushed him. He was obviously shaken up and shocked.<\/p>\n \u201cHis sister bought him a T-shirt as a bit of a joke and I said to him, I\u2019m going to have a picture of that and put it on Facebook – it went viral and so many people were empathetic towards him.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, we need to do something about this. Paul came up with the name Savvy Shuffle.<\/p>\n \u201cA design for some wristbands to help raise awareness and spark conversations has been sent to the manufacturers but we\u2019re not able to get them produced just yet. We\u2019re going to some support groups first – Paul\u2019s sister is a dance teacher and she does a Parkinson\u2019s dance group, and we know some singing groups to approach – about interest for it and we\u2019d need to get some funding; we’ve put a post out on Facebook about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Debra said supporters of people with Parkinson\u2019s reported on them frequently being judged unfairly, particularly in social settings, where symptoms such as unsteady walking or slow responses can be mistaken for intoxication or rudeness. \u201cThe campaign message is simple but powerful – \u2018Not drunk. Not rude. Parkinson\u2019s\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Underlining the need for \u201cgreater understanding and compassion from the public\u201d, Debra said: \u201cThis is about dignity. People shouldn\u2019t be judged or turned away because of a medical condition. We want people to stop, think, and understand.\u201d<\/p>\n She said supporters were already sharing posts using the hashtag #SavvyShuffle and she hoped the message would reach businesses, venues, and the wider public – encouraging better awareness and inclusivity. She said: “We think it would be really beneficial to link in with Pubwatch too, as the awareness side fits perfectly with door staff and venues.”<\/p>\n Did you know you can make Hull Live a preferred source of Hull news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? <\/strong>Here’s more information<\/a> <\/strong>about what this means and how to do it – you can also do it straight away by <\/strong>clicking here<\/a> <\/strong>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Roberts hopes \u2018Savvy Shuffle\u2019 campaign will bring about change Paul Roberts, a Hull man living with Parkinson’s,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[250636,105,56260,457,16,15],"class_list":["post-887089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-bars-in-hull","tag-health","tag-old-town","tag-people","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116386746728406348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}