Don't Think About Monkeys
Extraordinary Stories
Written By People With Tourette Syndrome
edited by Adam Ward Seligman & John S. HilkevichTourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder which compels its victims to make repetitive, involuntary tics. These tics can be vocal, motor, and mental, and they change their victims lives. Touretters who are adults as of this book's writing(1992) were in the generation which was mostly misdiagnosed and misunderstood. Those of a more recent generation are diagnosed earlier and with fewer previous misdiagnoses. They are subject to less abuse from their peers. But all of the Touretters in this story are their own individuals, and all have suffered not only from their disabilities, but from society's rejection. Adam DePrince, whose Tourette's is so severe and was accompanied by such early onset that he was first diagnosed with autism, writes that Tourettes is not a cute disorder. Where as people with Spina Bifida or deafness can be seen as cute, he writes, there is little patience or understanding for those with Tourette's. In this book, fourteen people(including the editors), write about the difficulties and differences Tourette's has put in their lives. They write about the physical havoc tics have wreaked on their bodies, the ostracism they suffered, the medications which sometimes helped and sometimes didn't, co-morbid disorders of depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and ADD. Some see their Tourettes as being separate from who they are and some do not; some see Tourettes as a blessing and a curse, and some see only a curse. These perspectives also include worldviews which are not obviously attributable to Tourette's.
Happy/serious reading.
