Tourette's Hero

April 22, 2012 12:02 PM

Jessica Thom's "Tourette's Hero" is a place to celebrate the humour & creativity of Tourette's. It’s not about mocking or commiserating — it’s about reclaiming the most frequently misunderstood syndrome on the planet and changing the world one tic at a time. [NSFW]
posted by not_on_display (8 comments total)

Tourette's is often a source of humor for those who don't understand how difficult it can be to maintain control over your own body. It's much more than outbursts of expletives and tics. This seems like a good way to help children. Good for them!
posted by ColdChef at 12:18 PM on April 22, 2012

This is a hundred pounds of awesome.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:29 PM on April 22, 2012

Agree. Haven't waded through the whole site, but it looks like a very interesting read.

- Sundrop
(diagnosed 39 years ago)
posted by sundrop at 12:58 PM on April 22, 2012

The scrambled, random brilliance of Tourette is a pretty magical thing. I have an anthropomorphic cartoon hamburger character I draw thactsame out of screaming HARDCORE HAMBURGER as I walked down the street with some friends.

I don't know how necessarily it is to teach people without TS to laugh with us; I'm kind of weary of playing along with the LOLHILARITY of every single tic in order to not seem overly sensitive, and kind of wish people would learn to just ignore it faster. But I'll always support people publicizing Tourette Syndrome, for themselves, in a positive light.

[first noticed something was wrong 17 years ago, diagnosed 11 years ago, author of this Ask Mefi question]
posted by Juliet Banana at 1:25 PM on April 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

Stephen Fry did a series last year about language, titled "Planet Word", including one episode specifically about 'naughty words' that included a segment on Tourettes Hero done at the time that her two most common verbal tics were 'fuck' and 'biscuit'. I had mixed emotions about highlighting her in this way, but much of it involved them talking about how people reacted to her and she seemed okay with how it was presented. But a month ago, when Australia's ABC started the series, the only long clip they used to promoted the show on YouTube was the one I linked above, and it was kinda cringeworthy for me. Again, context is everything and maybe the biggest problem with the verbal symptoms of Tourettes is losing the ability to control the context of your own speech.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:22 PM on April 22, 2012

That AskMe was really interesting JB, I've never seen such a clear explanation of TS - but I'm curious if you found a hopping replacement?
posted by pmcp at 3:59 PM on April 22, 2012

No, pmcp, I still hop a lot. I do allow myself to go on breaks to run around in circles outside more, and when I hop inside the house I have my mattress on the floor at my house and some folded up carpet foam at my boyfriend's.

I am sometimes able to change it into walking very slowly and deliberately now, or hopping while shifting weight from one foot to the other, which doesn't hurt as much as two-footed hopping.
posted by Juliet Banana at 4:16 PM on April 22, 2012

Not exactly a replacement but I know a kid with TS and he learned to play the drums, I think it helped to knock out some of his extra energy. Anyway, take care bouncing around.
posted by pmcp at 3:22 AM on April 24, 2012