I Have Tourette's But Tourette's Doesn't Have Me

Aungeni:
Whoever has tics will be a person still. It's not like you're bad or anything, don't know anything. You're still a human even though you have Tourette's.

Colin (III):
I hate substitutes. Substitutes and Tourette's Syndrome don't mix.

Colin:
Stand up, dust yourself off, and say, you know what, this sucks, but I'm gonna have to deal with it.

Seth:
It feels weird, 'cause I'm in control of everything else - why aren't I in control of that? Why can't I stop myself from doing that?'

Julian:
When I'm having a bad day and all my tics are coming out, I go really pretty much crazy.

William:
I think it's important to tell one person... one year later there might be millions of people... just because of that one person.

Amanda:
I hope that people accept me for who I am, and that I don't have to be these other people, I can just be me. I want other people to think: Oh, she's really cool - she's my friend, she has Tourette's Syndrome, whatever.

David:
Tourette's Syndrome... [he has a major coughing tic] well, there it is.

Julian:
When I'm having a bad day and a lot of tics are coming out, I go really pretty much crazy.

David:
Kids with Tourette's Syndrome are just like any other kid, just with a few disabilities. But overall, we're like you.

Colin:
There's a point in a friendship... where they ask, I've always wondered - can you stop it? Can you, like, just stop?

Seth:
I feel confident because I know one kid, one friend, is going to accept me no matter what I do.

Colin:
There's a point in a friendship with someone with Tourette's... where they ask, I've always wondered - can you stop it? Can you, like, just stop?

Amanda:
I hope that people accept me for who I am, and that I don't have to fit in with people, I can just be me. I want other people to think: Oh, she's really cool - she's my friend, she has Tourette's Syndrome, whatever.

Aungeni:
I feel just kind of funny inside. I say, like, why can't I stop doing this? Why can't I stop doing this?

Colin:
People stare. But... you've gotta just let 'em stare.

Jasper:
When I try to hold back too much, you can't think of anything except holding them back, and you can't think of anything except doing them.

Julian:
Tics are... like an itch, like you have to, like scratch it. You just... do it. It's like controlling you, and you feel like you have to do it or something's going to happen.

Veronica:
I had a second grade teacher who wasn't very understanding... She was always, like, Why are you doing that? Why can't you sit still? Stop cracking your knuckles; it's rude."

Veronica:
My friends all happen to think: Well, you're on medicine, doesn't it make your tics all better? No, it doesn't make it all better.

Seth:
I start thinking things about myself, like I am different, there is something wrong with me, maybe they're right. I start getting doubts in my mind. So it is more what other people think than your own opinion. It's their opinions that affect you.

Seth:
Tourette's just makes me feel different sometimes. And that's hard when it's all about fitting in. I don't want to be an outcast from everybody.

William:
Before you go into school, you really need to tell people that you have Tourette's, or else it's going to be a big, big hard time for you.

William:
You can't hold in a sneeze; you can't hold in a cough... you can't hold in a yawn forever. It doesn't feel right. That's kind of like when I have a tic, and that's how hard it is to stop. So when you see me doing something annoying, it's not because I want to, it's just more like I have to.

Michael:
I'm doing it so much that it drains my energy, and I can't handle it. I just get tired. It's also embarrassing.

Michael:
Now I'm starting to speak out, and be myself, and try to make sure Tourette's doesn't ruin my life.

Michael:
Holding them back just gives me this feeling of tenseness like everything's kind of cramped together and all your muscles are, like, contracted.

Matthew:
A person who has Tourette's isn't like a whole 'nother person... I'm a regular kid.

Kim:
I just felt like I wanted to burst out in tears. But I kind of did in school sometimes, because I just couldn't keep it in. People would ask, like, "Why are you crying?"... The people who make fun of me saying, "Why are you crying?" and it"s like, "Well, you should know."

Riley:
You feel like a marked man, like people already know you when they don't.

Riley:
People at school [were] just looking me down. And they want to get me out of the way in some different class where I wouldn't disrupt them.

Riley:
It's been a tough ride, an emotional roller coaster. But yet I still moved on by reading, and by drawing, and by being myself.

Jacob:
They called me a monster. I felt terrible. I felt like I was evil.

Conor:
I found out that when I'm relaxed and just feeling really calm, I don't really twitch a lot. When I get really into the piano, I get into my own zone, so Tourette's is, I don't even know that I have it when I'm in my zone.

Conor:
When I look at my dad, and my grandfather too, I just think, well, they both have Tourette's, and it hasn't stopped them from writing books and do whatever they do, and I'm not going to let it get in my way of enjoying life.