So you’ve clicked on this blog because you want to hear more about Tourette’s syndrome. Maybe you’ve heard of it but don’t know a lot and want to learn more. Maybe you know someone with it. Maybe you have it. Everyone’s welcome here.
Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes involuntary movements and sounds. It usually starts at a young age (but not always) and lasts for the rest of the person’s life. There’s treatments, but no cure. But that’s okay! People with Tourette’s can live fulfilling lives, have families, careers, and not let anything hold them back. It is considered a disability by law, and we do have challenges, but we work through them just like anyone else would.
An important thing to note, throughout this blog, I can only draw from personal experience. Everyone’s experience of Tourette’s is different, and this is my path and my views.
My tics started when I was 20. About nine months ago. Out of nowhere, almost. There was no physical or emotional trauma, and I’m still trying to figure out where they came from and why they started so late. First came the neck jerks, tiny little movements that I mistook for shivers from the cold, but as the weather warmed up, the tics continued. It was a while before I got any vocal tics. Even now, I can have twenty motor before a single vocal, but my vocal tics have varied a lot in the time I’ve had them. Ranging from just “hey” and “what” to whole phrases like “peas in a bucket” or “chicken pie on a plate”. They definitely don’t cease to amuse.
I’ve had a lot of reactions to them over the time I’ve had it. People who seem to understand all too well and mansplain my condition back to me, people who are really weirded out and don’t want to talk about it at all, people who don’t notice, people who have much more important things to talk about. Whatever reaction you can think of, I’ve had it.
I don’t always want to talk about it during my day to day life. Because it’s so noticeable, it comes up in first conversations most of the time. For the person I’m talking to, it might be the first time they’ve seen someone tic, but for me, it’s every single day, and sometimes I’m actually invested in what THEY have to say.
But I’m by no means opposed to talking about it, and I think that we should be more open to discussing disability, as it’s often a very stigmatised subject. That’s why I’ve created this blog, to discuss and get out there what it’s really like to have Tourette’s syndrome. Not the media’s stereotypes, but the real lived experience. I named it “Just a Tic” after the common expression (because who doesn’t love puns), but also to show that tics and tic disorders don’t have to be a big disaster. It’s a problem we face, but we face it with a smile and move on with our day, because it’s just a tic.
This blog mostly consists of my experiences and opinions on specific topics. Top 10 lists, or just article posts about things that I feel should be discussed.
If you have any requests for questions, topics or anything you’d like to see me discuss, please let me know, I’m always open to other points of view or enlightening people on what Tourette’s is really like.
Until next time.