Having Tourettes and growing up with a mom that did, I found humor to be the best medicine. Or better said, sometimes I would play off bigger hand gesture or body jerks as kind of a being fun or funny. I will say when it was worse at times, there is nothing fun about it and I would squirm a lot in my desk at school. If I could go back to my high school self, I would impart confidence that it’s okay to let it out sometimes, tell others what it is and hope to have a thick backbone when kids make fun of me. All these years, I don’t think I’ve only maybe once or twice even talked about Tourette’s with another person who had it, besides my mom.

i have learned to joke about it, as i kind of grew up with tics being looked down upon and my family heavily encouraged me to mask/suppress. i also find it helps me to tell people when i meet them and to explain it so i don’t have to worry about them being confused