I think your song is really good! Loving the blues influence.
Take care,
Becky x

Thanks Becky, the blues seems to creep in to a lot of my songs!! 'Powerless To Resist' is the title track of an album I've just finished. If you are interested in a copy, email paulstanworth@fsmail.net. I recorded it on portable equipment at home but I'm quite proud of it. (That's rare for me!)
Best wishes.
Paul.

Paul i am glad to be looking threw web sites my godson has tourettes . H

Paul thank you for your inspriration my godson has tourettes and your story is inspirational which i will be showing his mum. I think the world are curious of people whom don't fit in the norm. Always staring laughing but you have to learn to walk on by and keep smiling. My godson is so special and so unique I tell him people just want to be his friend.

Hiya, I'm Nick Bingham. I had lots of job rejections after graduating from university. And, like you Paul, it was down to my TS. In 2007 I moved to the south of France to pursue a career as an independant journalist - my success was ok. I would still be there, if I hadn't have fallen in love with Dawn my fiance, who's also a TS sufferer and moved in with her back in the UK.

We live back here in Norwich, and I am still unemployed. I have an Honours degree in English with creative writing strand. I have also had my poetry chosen for publication.

I went for a job as a creative writing assistant at NWP in Norwich. The job was to help organise poetry events (something I did in my spare time at uni for the English faculty). I should have gone for the Creative writing Manager's job - but didn't, due to lack of confidence, (as people are always getting at me. I have voval tics but don't have bad coprelalia. If I need to swear - I'll do it at home into my oillow) Albeit I have run a small businesses in two countries.

With this experience I received an email that said 'you have insufficient skills'. Now I have studied postgraduate HR with Professional Management at porstmouth uni as well, and I know full-well, that it was the TS which got me rejected - again!

So I've decided to return to uni in sussex to study for a BSc honours degree in psychology and hopefully onto a Masters then become a private clinical psychologist.

What gets me is that, TS sufferers are so isolated in our suffering. Yet there are so many of us. Perhaps I feel so unhappy about this, maybe I would like to organise a lobby of parliament regarding this problem with employment law which is not covered at the moment, by any form of police-ing.

If we TS sufferers are so rubbish and unemployable, why do we, especially TS sufferers who have done so well academically, or those like yourself or Franchesca who have arts skills and proven ability. Get it so hard?

In my experience, I think that it is due to sheer jealousy, by other non-TS sufferers, who are capable but apathetic to their own development. They see us suffer with tics and being socially abused, yet we get further than, these others, people who think it's their God given right to mimmick us, who have apparently DONE better.

Just some food for thought...

My best friend Mark Gunstone (fellow TS sufferer) who died in 2003 from heart attack at 44 yoa, was also a musician. He made a self published DVD which at his launch party sold only 2 - that lack of interest in Mark's amazing music talent, was ignorance as well.

They talk about a fair society for all. But! I think that unless we TS sufferers ourselves, pull something of a more unified support, out of this bag - then not one of us will succeed. All the TS sufferes I know, do not suffer from apathy but low-or-no self esteem, because, we are simply so isolated.

If we are really going to make a difference in my opinion "to break this cycle of us being abused in a society which 'tollerates social debasement and misunderstanding for TS sufferers' we must create a unified approach to the authorities. e.g. such as a lobby of parliament. And shouldn't Tourettes Action do this alongside us. It is a sensitive matter with all TS sufferers I know, but does not feature as a constituted ideology or methodology of TSA or T.A.

Anyway, I think your story is excellent. I wish you all the best Paul as you are helping those who can benefit from your loving nature and musical skills. I just wish that Mark could have found something that paid a wage. I simply think you are a good man, and show quality and ablilty in getting such a fulfilling career.

...Rock on mate.

Nick Bingham & Dawn Wall
Fellow TS sufferers, oh, AND humans lol.

Thanks Paul, this is the first I have entered this really helpful site-I am 33 and was diagnosed with TS and other related symptoms last october and my diagnosis finally helped make sense of what seemed a lifetime of questions, suffering and not understanding what was "wrong" with me even though I knew something was different and 'wierdly' unusual about me. I am a professional dancer and dance teacher, and prehaps as yourself have found that the creativity has helped me channel my energy into something positive. Dancing has been one of the main times I've been tic-free.
I too have come up against people who seem to think Tourettes is simply someone who uncontrollably swears. Yet the more I come to understand TS and myself, with having had it since aged 5, I am understanding the layers and layers of what it all is, and can see that often what people "see" or know of TS is just the tip of the iceberg to what those with TS actually have to deal with.

hello paul my name is finlay i have ts too and my dad has it too. i like music like you and am having lessons in september.i am good at good at singing and i like kanye west
finlay

Sorry I haven't checked back for a while, it's been a busy few months and I'm proud to say my wife and I are expecting our first child! Thanks for all the kind comments. It's great to hear of people who are finding support and comfort from sharing experiences - I remember feeling so relieved at my diagnosis after not knowing what the hell was going on for so many years. We are not on our own.One of the reasons I have been out of action is I've had surgery on my right arm after tics gave me severe tennis elbow - slightly inconvenient for a guitarist!! I'm pleased to say it's improving and the gigs are building up again. I'm playing lots of music as part of my job and it's really therapeutic. As I said in my earlier post, I have recorded an album and the title track is about Tourette's. I have also written a booklet about Tourette's that may be of interest.Please feel free to email me (paulstanworth@fsmail.net) for more info - no pressure!!
Abigail, you've hit the nail on the head when you refer to channelling energy. it is a very good way of managing Tourette's and the results of a creative streak can be great for self-esteem. I use these principles in my work with a young man who has severe learning disabilities and ADHD.
Finlay, go for it my friend!! I didn't start playing and singing until I was a lot older than you but always loved music. TS isn't always a burden if you use it to your advantage. Sing loud and be proud, you could be a legend one day!! Just don't get on the wrong side of your future wife by pestering for guitars every 2 minutes like I do!!
P.S. Nick Bingham, did you live in Haywards Heath a few years ago? If so, I think we've met! Your post made compelling reading and I'm sure will have struck a chord with many of the visitors to this site.
Best wishes to you all,
Paul

Paul,
I have been reading through some of your web posts and I felt I had to comment. I have suffered from Tourettes my whole life, and although as of yet it has not held me back with regards to jobs as I am still in full time education, I often receive the same reaction as you - "but you don't swear". I completely agree with you in that I have full respect and sympathy for those living with coprolalia, but this is the only form of Tourettes ever pubicised. I think you are an inspiration for speaking so openly about your condition, as many people feel ashamed of it - wrongly, I believe. I truly hope I won't face the prejudice you have come across, and I hope in the future people start to accept Tourettes as a condition with varying forms and general understanding and acceptance increases. Sorry for the essay, and I wish you success with your music career :)