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#TourettesHurts
Posted on 9 May 2024 by Pippa McClounan
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Support our 2024 TS Awareness Month Campaign
#TourettesHurts aims to highlight the impact Tourette’s can have on those with the condition and those around them. As far as medical conditions go, people often perceive it to be fairly mild, mostly because they don’t understand the symptoms – or the often devastating daily impact. Our campaign hopes to bring this to life.
It's not about raising awareness of Tourette’s
It's about challenging misconceptions
The stereotypes of Tourette’s have led to prejudice, social taboo and underfunding. A falsehood with very real consequences.
We hope the campaign will encourage the general public to read and learn more about Tourette’s, enabling us to squash these misconceptions and bring understanding to those with the condition.
We have 5 posters featured 5 wonderful people with Tourette's, all sharing a different message about why #TourettesHurts:
- Exhaustion
- Physical Pain
- Lack of Medical Provision
- Suppression
- Social Exlusion
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Tourette’s hurts.Experiencing constant agony from hundreds of involuntary tics every single day feels like a brutal attack on your body. And with over 300,000 people in the UK living with the condition, it’s much more widespread than you might think.
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Physical Pain |
Tourette's hurts.Over 90% of people with the condition experience pain daily because of their tics. The relentless discomfort of these involuntary neck and shoulder movements, repeated hundreds of times a day, adds up to what feels like whiplash from a car accident. |
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Lack of Medical Provisions |
Tourette’s hurts.Involuntary tics cause constant pain, but over 50% of people living with the condition have to wait more than a year to see a specialist. And when they do, 60% of patients are diagnosed and discharged in the same appointment, with no ongoing care. That’s a heavy load for them and their families. |
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Suppression |
Tourette’s hurts.75% of those living with the condition feel compelled to hide it for fear of stigma and discrimination. The effort required to hold back the hundreds of involuntary tics they experience every day can create an agonising build-up of tension that makes it feel like their whole body will combust. |
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Social Exclusion |
Tourette’s hurts.Every single day, people with the condition are mocked or excluded because of their involuntary tics. This can cause lasting psychological damage - sadly, those with Tourette’s are four times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. |
Exhaustion
Read more about the campaign here
You can get involved by:
- Putting up posters in your local area, request posters here
- Download digital posters - click here for more details
- Downloading our social media pack - click here for more details
We want to highlight that Tourette’s can have a huge impact on individuals and their families and yes Tourette’s does hurt but with the right support things can be much easier.
People with Tourette’s need better medical provisions, better educational and employment support and increased understanding and acceptance within our communities.
With these things in place people with Tourette’s can achieve amazing things!
2024 Awareness Video
Members of our community share here how their Tourette’s impact them and what can be done to help in our brilliant 2024 Awareness video, with some famous faces too!
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