Thank you.
I was about to have my usual whinge about the excessive focus on the sweary aspect [1], but Lewis covers that in his “what is Tourette’s?” video.
Remove the coprolalia and replace it with squeaks and screams [2] and you’ve got me on a moderately bad day.
[1] Tourette’s and similar conditions are primarily motion disorders. The sweary stuff only appears in a minority of cases [3].
[2] Most of my vocal tics get suppressed into incomprehensibility, but when one does sneak through it’s usually an expression of self-directed violence. “Shoot me inna face” etc.
[3] It’s highly vulnerable to suggestion [4], though, so the media cliche of sweary Tourettists actually makes it more likely to happen.
[4] Notice how Lewis’ tics shape themselves to context? (e.g. when he talks about inarticulate verbal tics, he starts to huff and squeak). It raises a difficulty for Tourette’s outreach: the more you identify and “perform” as a Tourettist, the more Tourettey you’re likely to get. The surest way to get me ticcing hard is to ask me about my tics.
