Another month and another awareness event – this time we are talking Tourette Syndrome – TS (15th May – 15th June).

For anyone reading this thinking ‘ahh this has no relevance to me, I’ll just skip this post,’ I encourage you to think again. I say this because isn’t this what awareness is all about, learning about conditions which you may not have known about before? I am aware that my Tourette’s posts are the least viewed content on my blog and this makes me sad, because as far as conditions go my Tourette’s is just as relevant as all my other conditions and therefore it is important for me to write about this as much as anything else.

If you are still here then thank you, I appreciate you sticking around and wanting to learn more about my ticking world. Today I wanted to talk to you not about my life with tics (you can read more on this here), but the mental health impact of living with such a condition.

Like with any condition we all deal with it in various ways and TS is no different. Some sufferers use humour, others shy away and some people really find it difficult to accept it into their lives. I am someone who accepts my tics and embrace them as a part of who I am, I can even laugh about it from time to time (with close family), nevertheless I suppress my tics in public due to the negative feedback I have received from others. I have had people laugh, stare, point and be disgusted simply by me mentioning the fact I tic.

Examples of times I have had someone ridicule my TS include:

A former work colleague telling me she was glad I suppressed my tics to save the embarrassment and distraction for everyone else.

A new job revoking my position once they found out I had TS. One minute I was filling out the paperwork being told my hours, the next I was being told the job was no longer available (after he read the ‘any health conditions’ section).

Another example of indirect taunting was after a dating show on television featuring someone with tics had aired. This person showed so much bravery going onto a programme to find love with their tics and yet I had colleagues sat on another desk laughing about it. They didn’t know I was a fellow sufferer, but that wasn’t the point. These people were supposedly educated, clever individuals and yet they were mocking someone from my community for being different.

I would like to say these were the only occasions, but sadly the list goes on…

Looking back I wish I’d had the strength to stand-up in these times of discrimination, but instead I concealed my TS more, bowing down to ableist views on the world. Saying that though should I have had to stand up, or should others be more aware of their behaviour towards people who are not the same as them?

Having a condition that people would prefer you kept to myself because of others discomfort, or that people laugh about has a huge impact on mental health. Not only because it makes you want to change yourself to please others, but because by mocking sufferers the message being sent out in the world is that TS is not a serious condition. Tourette’s is a neurological condition which can be painful, tiring and in some cases life-altering – would people laugh at other neurological conditions in the same vein? Do people openly make fun of other people in pain and fatigue, by making them the punch-line in an insensitive gag? Some of you may think yes, but as someone with a multitude of conditions with these type of symptoms it really isn’t in the same ballpark.

We now live in a world where mental health is finally being given the recognition it deserves, so isn’t it time we start considering how our own behaviour can have an impact on how someone else feels.

Taking inspiration from the Tourette’s Association’s shareable stories I wanted to say Tourette’s isn’t a punchline, a quip, an excuse or a slur it is a mark of determination, bravery and courage. The determination of a teenage sitting their exams whilst battling to concentrate, the bravery of a man opening up to his date for the first time, the courage of a young woman telling her potential employer about her condition then getting overlooked anyway.

With all this said, I wanted to finish off this post by asking anyone reading this to take the Tourette’s pledge. A pledge to stop using Tourette’s as a slur or a punchline. A pledge to see Tourette’s as a condition that is as important as any other. A pledge to help us break free of the stigma. A pledge to show others they are accepted for who they are and not what their tics do.

Thank you for your support 💕

Sarah xx