Tourette's Podcast

We know sleep evades the "average" Touretter, but answer this, whoever you are: How do you typically start your day? Do you protest with the ol' "I just wanna keep sleeeeeping" or "I can't do this today"? Or do you do what Ellis Pascal does -- waking up exclaiming and jolting into the day -- ? Ellis is one of the most driven and energetic people we've heard from on this show, and his advice for a...

New studio; new guest, and one many of you said you were excited to hear: Brian Lane. He's one of Tourette's best, working as an educator who, partly via TS, ends up being the perfect kind of person to lead a class and relate to what his students go through. He even helped one find a Tourette diagnosis. Brian himself lived a rough and disconnected youth, but found strength as he managed his TS and...

Attack of the teens continues! This week: Hara, who brings us a maximally convivial and poignant conversation about the funny and not-as-much moments of being a teenager with Tourette Syndrome. But there's a lot more to it -- ethnic backstories, family dynamics, queerness and intersectionality. Really lucky to have Hara walk us through it all, with one of the best family about-face stories we've g...

You asked for it -- more teenage voices on Tourette's Podcast. Shylah, known around the web as Simply Tourettes, represents that voice dang well, and candidly so. She opens up, smartly dissects the struggles of reckoning with a perceived-to-be-weird thing like Tourette Syndrome at her age of 13, and finding ways to build structure around it. Everyone can relate to this one in one way or another. P...

We're nearly to the end of June, and in turn near the end of Pride Month, which has celebrated and boosted awareness for the LGBTQ+ community. Obviously these celebrations (need to) continue beyond a single month, and Tourette's Podcast is always there for it. The Tourette Association of America has been gathering stories from the LGBTQ+ community of Touretters at tourette.org/pride . If you'd lik...

Rinada is a prime example of a hero parent cutting through the red tape to get her son the world he needs while also giving him the room to live it his own way. As a woman of color, she also underlines the importance of storytelling, because when you don't see yourself in the everyday conversation, the everyday portrayal, the everyday slate of leadership and authority, you can feel isolated, and i...

The interview you're about to hear was recorded before the George Floyd news story and the subsequent demonstrations across the country. But it gets into some of the points that have been brought up with regard to the lack of certain life experiences in politics, or in government, or leadership or authority. Our guest this week, Justin Farmer, is a local elected official who's running for a state...

I posted this in the Tourette's Podcast Discussion Group earlier and figured I should here too — It's been a long day here, but I wanted to say something: If there's one thing the Tourette community knows, it's how to be empathetic and appreciate the stories of wrongly treated populations. Clearly the magnitude of protest we're seeing expressed in so many cities in recent days highlights how long...

Amanda Talty is back! The president and CEO of the Tourette Association of America talks ways to maximize Tourette Awareness Month, what's happening in the world that hopefully leads to an easier time discussing mental health, what happened at the recent TAA Virtual Conference, and what TAA's programming is focusing on. Plus - listeners questions for Ben: What's your most awkward tic? What's kept...

Dr. Christine Conelea is a star in the Tourette research field (and an important support beam for Tourette's Podcast in the process). She has an fun energy for tackling TS research questions, but isn't content letting the results of her work (or anyone else's) sit quietly in the vaults. Instead, she wants the Tourette community to know what questions the scientists are researching, and even questi...

When Kyle was growing up, he experienced the very torment so many Touretters can relate to -- being bullied, being punished for tics, a lack of empathy within the family, et cetera -- and in turn vented angrily to the people around him. Once he noticed his young son, Bryson, was clearly displaying tics, Kyle was determined to give him a different outlook. Today, Bryson, 9, is a highly focused taek...

A different kind of episode this week. After hearing from Touretters on the Tourette's Podcast Answering Machine, we talk Tourette science and medicine with one of the best -- Dr. John Walkup, Chair of the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. We get his backstory, how he wandered into Tourette as a focus, and...

When Ben was in the hospital (as talked about on Episode 0 of this season), one of the things that got him through was a book called "Twist and Shout: An Awkward Life With Tourettes." The author, Tyler Oberheu, had loaded it with stuff to laugh or nod over. On every page. Snarky angles. Oddities. Trials. Existential silly-string. That "can this be real?" feeling. And some warm, honest takes on wha...

Matt Sawyer AKA noMad is a rapper from St. Paul, Minnesota who hadn't put much thought into writing anything about Tourette Syndrome until his producer told him to. Seems like it would be a challenge to condense a life of experience with TS, associated school-ground ridicule and personal healing into a radio-length song. But he'd spent a lot of time learning himself, and the instincts poured out o...

Daisy is a solid mom. She didn't let all the Tourette-flattening forces of the world set the course for her 8-year-old son, Angel, who was diagnosed with TS about a year ago. Even the diagnosis was a migraine, coming with some odd advice about what the world would be like for Angel. Daisy shut it down, did what solid parents do and figured out how to give her child a world he could shape for himse...

Lewis Rossignol is a widely known and followed artist who makes his entire living off of his work, often on commissions, and has Tourette Syndrome at the core of it. Art was his way. On this episode, Lewis discusses what's behind his work, why Tourette is so connected to it, his decision to make art his career without spoiling what he loves about it, and advice to the younger creatives listening....

Ben starts Season 5 by opening way up about his recent experience in the hospital and how it was the best thing that ever happened to him. (And also check out Episode 1, released the same time as this one).  Thanks to the Tourette Association of America for making this podcast possible. https://tourette.org 

Unbelievably, we're at the season finale! This episode looks at big takeaways from Season 4 (so much unforgettable stuff) before a close-out conversation with Haley from Alabama, U.S. She didn't receive a Tourette Syndrome diagnosis until she was 18, but all along "I pretty much knew I was different," she said. "It was easy to tell." We cover loads of relatable things -- perfectionism, handling ra...

Giveaway winners! Touretters on "Motherless Brooklyn"! And magic! Really! We're joined this week by professional magician Jason Michaels, who has Tourette Syndrome. And I know what you're wondering: How does one master sleight of hand with body tics? Is anxiety a factor on stage? And how does one get past total embarrassment of Tourette to the point of using it straight-up for relatability? Jason...

We're joined by a high-ranking federal official in the States who has LOTS of wisdom on running a diverse and appreciated workplace, and how Tourette Syndrome has given him, if anything, advantages to that end. He's also got a great story about his first awareness of Tourette. PLUS: Giveaway winners! Discussion group stats! Upcoming events! Tourette.org!

Occasionally a listener asks what we've done on tic disorders OTHER than Tourette Syndrome. And the answer is: not much. Until now. Rachel has chronic motor tic disorder and, as you might expect, stories familiar to any Touretter and probably eye-opening to anyone unfamiliar. But she, and many others with non-Tourette tic disorders, raises a good point about the weirdness of finding community when...

1. Yuki is strong, and you'll agree after hearing what has to be the foremost tic story ever told on this podcast. She deals with coprolalia, paralysis tics and other pressures to stay ahead of. Saying it again -- she's strong. Have a listen. 2. It's time for an amazingly cool giveaway! Details in the episode. Links:  Treating Tourette Together executive summary TTT survey 12 Days of Giving at TAA

It's #TourettesCop day on the podcast! We've got him, among our most in-demand guests, and it's great. What's it like to be a police officer with Tourette Syndrome? Answers ahead. Also: weighing in on Nick Cannon's "Tourette's" lyric and a followup on the Treating Tourette Together Summit, with a call to action. Links:  Treating Tourette Together executive summary https://www.treatingtourettetoget...

First thing -- we have a winner to our pop-quiz question! And he has a special message. And then we get to Daphne, our guest this week who has a lot to say about creativity as an artist and identity as a trans woman, all of it fitting into the Tourette context with important takeaways for anyone listening. Please spend time absorbing this one.  John's donation page https://secure.everyaction.com/P...

Rejuvenated after a little break, we're back, this time with Jason from Australia. He knows the value of a good break from the grind to sort out one's head, and we get into that (and how difficult it can be, too). Jason, professionally, is a diversity and inclusion specialist in sports and event management -- which can be fast-paced, and certainly in the context of Tourette Syndrome. But he handle...