THREAD when you meet a Touretter:

- don’t stare

- don’t laugh AT us

- do NOT suggest tics to us (not even if you came from the same zygote) if that isn’t something we’ve explicitly permitted. can be dangerous or distressing.

#tourettesliving #tourettes

- don’t get upset about your kids hearing us swear if we’re one of the 10% who do have coprolalia (obscene vocal tics) or copropraxia (obscene gestures.

ya kids will survive, ma dude. i promise.

#tourettesliving #tourettes

- don’t finish our sentences. if you’re not ND & the building isn’t burning down (even then, try) wait it out. we deserve time to speak/Sign/type

#tourettesliving #tourettes

- don’t shout at us or mock us.

(literally not going to get us to stop; it’ll very likely make or tics more intense & frequent.)

(plus if ya do, you’re a bit of a ableist sh^tbag tbqh)

#tourettesliving #tourettes

- don’t invalidate our use of mobility aids in relation to our Tourette’s.

wheelchairs & walking sticks etc make some of our lives more liveable

& it’s none of your damn business why if we don’t want to explain

#tourettesliving #tourettes

- do feel free to ask reasonable questions (but don’t expect us to be your Tourette’s encyclopædia).

- do smile at us, if that’s your kind of thing, when you notice us in public. a simple smile lets me know that at least one person doesn’t hate me.

#tourettesliving #tourettes

- do stick up for us if ppl are giving us a hard time.

if anyone on my train one particularly awful time had defended me, i don’t think i’d still be having flashbacks & shaking about the incident

#tourettesliving #tourettes

- do take the time to engage with the fact that all of these traits are possible Touretter traits

(but also could be due to other neurotypes and conditions):

#tourettesliving #tourettes

repeating words spoken by self (palilalia) or others (echolalia);

repeatedly asking the same questions

coprolalia (repeatedly speaking obscenities)

copropraxia (repeatedly making obscene gestures)

#tourettesliving #tourettes