Support is one of the best things in the world

Posted on May 21, 2013 by RuthieP

All I can say is WOW. I just got back from a dinner with my parents and grandparents to see all of your love and support. I was shocked when I saw that so many people had commented on this post to let me know how much you guys support me.

I read every single comment, and each and every one made me feel like I am important, I am someone, I am making a difference, and I am a part of this amazing TS community. You are all amazing, and you all made me feel so much better!

I know my mom truly loves me, cares about me, and wants the best for me in life, but I believe I also now need to accept that she just can’t understand what Tourette Syndrome truly is and what I go though with it every day.

For me, you guys and my amazing friends from high school and college are my rock. You make me feel loved, understood and accepted. Sometimes after I have a conversation like this with my mom, I feel hopeless, but coming back to this brightened my spirits.

This time, I know there is no reason to feel what I have felt in the past. This time, I know that although some people just don’t understand differences, the overwhelming majority of people I have encountered in my life and will encounter in the future will understand and accept me if I just explain and am open about what I have and how it effects me. You guys are the best.

Even though she cannot accept my TS, I just have to accept her for who she is and for her inability to come to terms with this. One of the hardest things is that because of her inability to accept my TS, I suppress my tics around her.

That is one of the hardest things for me, not only because suppressing them is of course physically painful and distressing, but because I feel like she doesn’t know the real me. The real me lets my tics out around my friends and in class because I am not ashamed that I have TS and I accept myself, tics and all.

The real me advocates for acceptance and understanding of TS and all differences. The real me is not afraid to let others know that I have TS because Tourette is something I was born with, something that is a part of me and something that has made me the person who has a passion for making a difference in the world and for making everyone who has differences feel loved, accepted and not alone.

Really need some support right now

Posted on May 20, 2013 by RuthieP

OK, I need some support and kind words right now. Just had a big conversation with my mom. Basically, I don’t really tic around her because she just tells me to stop when I do and that it’s not socially acceptable. She has seen me tic before and has lived with my OCD and other conditions my whole life, though.

She tried to deny yet again that I even have TS.

She told me that if I just exercise more then maybe I wouldn’t have TS. Then, when I finally convinced her — probably just temporarily — that I do have TS because I was diagnosed by a neurologist with her in the room and my cousin also has TS and my dad and all of his brothers have OCD, she told me that I better tell my husband/guy I’m dating that I have TS/OCD because if my dad would have told her then maybe she would have thought a little harder before marrying him.

Yeah….. so I need some support right now because I’m not feeling very accepted right now.

Share tolerance and acceptance!

Posted on May 14, 2013 by JohannaJ

I first posted this a couple of months ago, but I want to share it again now!

My name is Johanna. I have Tourette Syndrome. All I want is to be recognized as a normal person. My hope is that with enough “shares” we can spread tolerance & acceptance! Tourette is not a swearing disease — that’s called coprolalia, which only 6 percent of people with TS suffers have.

Remember to embrace who you are! You’re amazing don’t let ANYONE tell you different!

Feel free to share!

Cure Tourette Syndrome and the ignorance of it

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Logan Kurtz

I wish more people would take the time to spread pictures of awareness for Tourette. People don’t understand how ridiculed we are. Did you know more kids commit suicide that have Tourette than those who are gay? Probably not, because you never hear about that.

I believe love is love and think everyone should have rights, but I also have strong feelings of my own seeing so many friends posting these equal signs knowing that more than half of them wouldn’t do the same for TS. Not that its something to fight over, I just wish we had more love and acceptance than hatred and ignorance.

You don’t know until it’s you… I’ve had multiple people go in public with me and afterward say, “Wow, I had no idea people were so rude.”

Props to JohannaJ for this image!

Different room for exams

Posted on April 26, 2013 by RuthieP

Yesterday and today were the first days I’ve taken my exams in a separate room in college. I took all of my exams in high school in a separate room because of my tics, and in college I thought I could move back into a room with a small number of others when taking exams because my tics are a bit more mild this year.

I posted about this a little before, and in that post I mentioned that the last two times I took my exams in a room with another student the other student had to leave the room because my tics were bothering her. I thought it best for everyone that I move back to taking my exams in a separate room.

I don’t feel upset about this, really. I took an exam yesterday and today in a separate room, and I didn’t have to deal with thinking about if my tics were bothering anyone. I was more focused on my exams, and that’s what matters.

I have TS, which is not my fault, and if taking my exams in a separate room helps both myself and other students, then I call that a win. Letting other people provide you with the accommodations you need is not accepting that you are any less than any other person. It’s realizing that you are just as important as everyone else and so are your needs.