Entertainment by a Tourettes sufferer

[vernon]

I have only ever encountered two people with Tourettes - one was in a queue in our local medical centre whose random explosive expletive free tics alarmed my son who was eight at the time and the other was a pupil who started ticcing verbally and physically at thirteen years old and got progressively worse until the tics peaked at fifteen and faded by the time he left school at eighteen. He had some amazing tics, many of them contextual and lots of them totally random. He benefitted from having supportive schoolmates and being able to cope with the fall out. He traumatised a few teachers but entertained many more though we tried very hard to maintain dead pan expressions.

I've just discovered a web site with an interview with a Tourettes sufferer who goes by the name Touretteshero. The radio interview is superb and truly entertaining. Touretteshero is in control of the situation and I've been entertained for the past forty minutes or so.

Listen to 'Desert Island Tics' here

Her rendition of Kumbaya at 11 minutes is particularly entertaining.

 

[Arch]

I saw a documentary about Tourettes a while back, a follow up of some people who featured in a programme some years before. I had no idea that it can come on in later life - there was a chap who'd been an optician, but just woke up with it one day, and that was that.

They showed a group meeting, and yes, it was funny, in a shameful way. But fascinating and inspiring as well. Understanding has clearly come on, but there's a way to go.

 

[summerdays]

A friend's child has tourettes which probably started when they were about 13 .... the medication varies in how much it suppresses it (never completely gets rid of, but just how much out of control!) - I guess it is hard with the developing teenager to keep the medication at the right level. Other than that it's just what I've seen on TV.

 

[vernon]

The Desert Island Tics broadcast is worth listening to. The sufferer makes light of her condition and is entertaining as well as eloquent. I share some of the broadcast with my offspring this evening and they were surprised at how quickly they homed in on 'the signal' and filtered out the 'noise'.

The sufferer is a 30 year old youth worker.

 

[summerdays]

I will listen tomorrow ... today I'm on the laptop just surfing before bedtime and I will also pass on the information to my friend. I do filter out a lot of the tic's but notice when it seems to be going through a bad phase - they are getting support at school.