A Yorkshire-based charity, Tics and Tourette’s Information Centre (T.I.C), is stepping up efforts to raise awareness of Tourette’s Syndrome across South Yorkshire as Tourette’s Awareness Month gets underway.
Running from 15 May to 15 June, the month aims to challenge stigma and improve public understanding of the neurological condition, which affects around 1 in 100 children in the UK.
Yasmin Bartle, support service manager for T.I.C, said: “We have seen more people become aware of the name Tourette’s syndrome however, we have seen very little in the way of people understanding what Tourette’s syndrome actually is or can look like.”
While the condition is more widely recognised, Bartle said there is still a significant misunderstanding about what Tourette’s actually involves.
T.I.C is using this year’s awareness month to launch a major new education campaign aiming to train thousands of young people on how to better support classmates living with Tourette’s.
Yasmin said: “We are currently training 5,000 young people on the ways they can help make their classrooms more inclusive for a person with Tourette’s Syndrome. We’re currently at 1,015 children and we’re 5 days into awareness month and are on track to finish the month at a whopping 5,084 children.”
She also highlighted the charity’s continued efforts to challenge stigma around the condition’s most misunderstood symptoms.
Yasmin said: “The most common question or complaint from educators locally when a child is diagnosed is the phrase ‘but they don’t swear?’. This is meaning that the statistical minority are being acknowledged and anyone outside of that area are questioned or labelled ‘less complex’. This is a perception we are really trying to break down.”
Nationally, Tourette’s Action is leading the charge with their powerful new #Misunderstood campaign.
Launched in collaboration with AML and The Attic, the multimedia campaign features a moving rendition of Nina Simone’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and stars individuals with Tourette’s, including Grace, a young woman with TS, highlighting the everyday realities of the condition.
Emma McNally, CEO of Tourettes Action. “Through music, film, and visual storytelling, we want to show the world what it really means to live with Tourette’s.”
The campaigns mark a coordinated push to challenge nationwide misconceptions and reshape how Tourette’s is understood by the public.