For my English A-Level class, I have to write a 3-4 minute speech on a subject I am passionate about. Of course, I chose disability advocacy. In particular, "Why Tourette's should not be used as a punchline". Here is the speech...
I have Tourette's Syndrome. Armed with that fact, I am anticipating you asking why I am not swearing. Why is my body seemingly still? Am I sure I have Tourette's? or is it just a quirk? Well I can assure you that I, along with over 300 000 other Britons, have a firm diagnosis of Tourette's Syndrome and, no, I don't swear.
Quite often, I see people with large followings mock my condition. I watched a video recently where Michael McIntyre recalled, on stage, pretending to have Tourette's. Regardless of this being true, he used it as a punchline. Even David Cameron mocked a member of parliament in 2012, saying facing him was "like having someone with Tourette's sitting opposite you". I am all for comedy but at what point do we draw the line? Jokes and comments like these are offensive. I went to a comedy show last year, Stuart Francis into the pun-set, and the comedian on stage made a joke about Tourette's. Instantly, my tics reacted. I started quacking, squeaking, contorting and shouting. The comedian hadn't interacted with the audience at this stage but soon after my tics made an appearance, he decided to mock "the drunk young lady in the audience", until he later realised it was Tourette's, which he also went on to ridicule. I laugh at my tics. My Tourette's has filled in many silences, created many memories and many stories. So, it is with this that I say I am not being over-sensitive. My issue is not with the comedy, but rather the misconception that this comedy is fact.
I understand why my condition seems funny. I understand that many of you see Tourette’s to be “that swearing condition”. I understand… that you don’t. I'm going to ask you to imagine something. Every time I tic, I feel a “premonitory urge”. This is basically a signal that tells me to tic, and it becomes unbearable if I don’t tic when I need to.
Imagine clapping your hands until they crack. Imagine rolling your eyes, scrunching your face, and curling your toes whilst trying to concentrate on a task. Imagine squeaking, coughing, and interrupting conversations with random noises that you can’t control. Imagine going through the supermarket shouting “banana”, “chicken” or even “I have Corona!”, in the middle of a pandemic. Imagine doing this every 5 seconds. Each time, feeling that shiver, boiling of the blood, itching, pounding, throbbing, aching and everything in between, rush under your skin. It’s not nice to imagine, is it? Well, I don’t have to imagine. For those of us living with Tourette’s, this is daily life.
In public, I see people staring at me on a daily basis. They stare and they judge. I don’t swear but the misconception Tourette’s is given by the media, by comedians, inhibits these people from showing empathy and understanding towards me. If you saw two people on a trip out, one swearing and “giving the finger”, the other making random noises and clapping. Which would you be accepting of? Well I can already say that most people understand the person swearing, but not the other. This is because any widely-advertised Tourette’s information is all about the swearing. Even the “best joke” marked at the Edinburgh fringe festival was about Tourette’s. Why, instead of raising awareness, do we joke about my condition?
Misconceptions and misinformation leads to an unaccepting society. Tourette’s is a part of me and I really do wish that the world can accept it. As long as comedians use Tourette’s as a joke, change will not happen. We will not gain acceptance. We need acceptance and this is why I believe Tourette’s should not be used as a punchline.