Tourette's sufferer explained what it is really like trying to suppress a tic
A man with Tourette's explained what it feels like to try and suppress a tic as he went through how it felt to 'tic out'.
During the BAFTAs, Tourette's campaigner John Davidson yelled out a racial slur at Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo while they were on stage, during the ceremony he had also said 'shut the f**k up’ and ‘f**k you’ and left before the awards night was over.
The film I Swear, which Robert Aramayo won the Best Actor award for, was inspired by John's life and experience with Tourette's Syndrome.
Host Alan Cumming later said: "Thanks for your understanding and helping create a respectful space for everyone. Tourette’s Syndrome is a disability and the tics you’ve heard tonight are involuntary, which means the person who has Tourette’s Syndrome has no control over their language. We apologize if you are offended tonight."
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Tourette's sufferer Jason Grant had previously explained to the Tourette Association of America how he was feeling when he would 'tic out' and what trying to suppress a tic felt like.
"My tics are a strange and erratic phenomenon. It often starts with a thought or suggestion in my head telling me to do something and it won’t go away until I act on it; like a mosquito bite that needs to be scratched," he explained.
Grant suggested he might be walking down the street and see a dog, know that dogs bark and then 'the suggestion enters my head to bark like the dog'.
He explained: "Obviously, I don’t want to give the dog’s owner the impression that I am teasing her pet or that I’m just plain crazy so I try to hold it in for a minute or two until she’s gone. That may or may not be very difficult to do depending on how I feel."
He said holding back a tic was called 'suppression', and that how long someone with Tourette's could hold it for was different 'depending on the person.
"I sometimes feel a knot in my stomach getting tighter and tighter like a noose around my neck," Jason explained.
"The pressure builds and builds, all the while I’m thinking, 'Hold it. Hold it.' Finally, I can suppress no longer.
"The dog walker seems to be far enough away so I release, and 'Arggh Aaar Arrgg Aahh'. It all comes out like the Hoover Dam breaking under pressure."
Jason also explained that he remembered reading a story about a man with Tourette's who was going on a trip with his friends and started shouting 'bomb' at the airport.
The man explained his condition to the staff who tried to accommodate him, but other passengers were 'disturbed' by the tics and the pilot refused to let him on the plane.
Jason said he'd later been on a trip to a wedding with his family when he remembered reading about this and wanted to shout 'bomb', but was able to say 'ah-bah' instead, explaining that some people with Tourette's can make a sound close to the word instead.
He added that he had physical tics such as having to 'twist and contort his back and shoulder' when he's on an exercise bike, and had 'compulsive staring' as a tic as well.
"You would think I’d have learned to explain my condition to the people I stare at," he wrote.
"Therapists have tried to help me come up with a 'disclaimer' to do just that. But I just can’t seem to gather myself up to say it. Kind of like a deer in the headlights. So, I continue to be misunderstood and often worry that if I stare at the wrong person, I might be assaulted too."
Topics: Mental Health, BAFTAs
Joe Harker