I'm on television, ticcing and twitching. I think that's kind of cool.
Manchester United could have any goalkeeper in the world. I was a 23-year-old kid from New Jersey who, from an early age, had to cope with Tourette's Syndrome, a brain disorder that can trigger speech and facial tics, vocal outbursts and obsessive compulsive behavior.
I think people would be suprised at how much we curse when we screw up. I'm like somebody with Tourette's Syndrome.
It's very important that we do show appreciation for those who go to work in raising awareness. You know, Tourette Syndrome is not well known. There's not a lot of government money and research in it. But people are dying inside every day because they're suffering with it, and I think word needs to get out.
Once you understand that someone has Tourette and that they can't help their tics, it takes away the distraction. And you can engage your compassion. You feel for them. You embrace them.
Sometimes I tic or twitch or cough, and it's a very public thing.
Right now, as I've gotten older, my tics sustain for five or ten years. So, I can deal with them on a daily basis; I know how it affects my body. But when you're 10 years old, and every three months a tic comes along, it's daunting because you don't know what the next one is going to look like, what it's going to feel like.
Lionel Essrog, the twitching, barking, gabbling narrator of Jonathan Lethem's new novel, 'Motherless Brooklyn,' is no movie-of-the-week novelty grafted onto a noir mystery. Maybe his Tourette's is a gimmick, but it's a gimmick with depth, with soul.
I've have a number of violent tics. With Tourette syndrome, there's not just compulsive actions, but compulsive thoughts as well. That used to scare my mother a lot.
There's a film I did called 'Front of the Class', about a teacher who had Tourette's. That was a beautiful blend of drama and comedy. There's some great moments of levity in the script.
This Tourette's center sent me a package that was like 900 hundred pages.
As soon as things get serious in front of the goal, I don't have any twitches... It's probably because at that moment, my concentration on the game is stronger than the Tourette syndrome.
You know what worries me? Interacting with the kids. I'm afraid that's when my Tourette's will kick in.
Acting is a stressful environment to put yourself into, and stress triggers Tourette's, but I think it's partly an outlet because when I'm acting, I'm putting my mind, body, and soul into something, and that's one of the times during the day when I don't tic.
People believe that if you can shut your Tourette's off for a period of time, then you can always shut it off. I try to explain to people that if I spent my whole life trying to control my tics, that's all I would have time for.
I've seen a shift in general about the literacy of the public to what Tourette's is. And that's a testament to local kids and parents having the courage to share their experience.
