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‘The real problem with Tourette’s is society’s lack of acceptance’
Pippa McClounan and her son Zak, who has Tourette Syndrome, have had to deal with years of misunderstanding.
Pippa McClounan’s journey with Tourette Syndrome (Tourette’s or TS) began when her son was about two-and-a-half and ‘started having tics, things like shoulder shrugs. I’ve since learnt that Tourette’s tends to start in the upper part of the body — an eyebrow raise, a squint or a sniff. We just thought it was a habit he’d grow out of, but by the time he was five, they were becoming more persistent and he was making vocal tics — sort of umm noises.’ Anything audible is classed as a vocal tic, such as coughs, grunts and sniffs; a motor tic is any kind of movement, however big or small.
Pippa started looking for answers. ‘As happened with us, the doctor will often say that childhood tics are very common and lots of kids outgrow them,’ she told me. ‘But my son’s got worse. He finally got diagnosed when he was about eight. I was distraught because all I knew about Tourette’s was what I’d seen in the media — the severe cases, the swearing. I thought, What’s his life going to be?’
