Tourette’s isn’t what you think it is. It isn’t just swearing. It isn’t shouting random profanities or insulting those around you. It isn’t getting away with absolutely anything because ‘it was a tic’ or ‘part of the tourette’s’. It isn’t the excuse for road rage, and it isn’t choosing to be rude for the sake of it. Tourette’s is far more than that. Tourette’s is the feeling of a constant shiver in the back of your spine. It’s the itching you get in your blood and the tingling on your feet. It’s the stabbing pain of pins and needles in your veins and the clouded thoughts in your brain that you thought were invisible, but everybody sees. It’s a million Christmas lights flickering on and off, giving you a headache and leaving you disoriented. Tourette’s is the constant ridicule for making noises and shouting, even though you don’t want to do any of it. It’s the inability to concentrate or work for long periods of time without exacerbated stress and frustration. It’s uncontrollable anger, upset, highs and lows And it’s the difficulty of being accepted in a tainted society. Tourette’s is laying on the floor daily, contorting and putting yourself in uncomfortable and painful positions. It’s the constant trips to A&E because of severe brusing, fractured and broken bones. It’s regularly feeling tired and disorientated from moving into strange positions, constantly. It’s being unable to control what you say and do, with everyone taking that persona to be you, rather than listen to who you actually are. Tourette’s is a difficult condition to live with. There are many misconceptions surrounding it which makes acceptance and understanding difficult to come by. There are many layers to such a complex condition, what you see will only be a small part of these. We need acceptance. After all, the only way forward in society is to learn and develop.