Is It Wrong To Laugh About Tourettes?

[Peter Parka]

I'm asking this because the other week there was a program on telly about people with tourettes. I felt sorry for them and some of it was very touching but some of their ticks, I found to be some of the funniest shit I've ever heard. As many of you know, I have aspergers syndrome and I'm aware that some of my outlooks on life, people find humourous too and even though I dont understand why, I'm happy if it gives people a laugh. These were some of the moments in this programs that had me falling about in stiches. What do you think?


YouTube - Tourettes: I Swear I Can't Help It - Fuck Off Nosey

 

[seth2113]

no, its not wrong, its funny as hell. But don't do it in front of some1 who has tourettes

 

[AUDRAA]

I look at it like this Pete youre not laughing at the person or the disease youre laughing at what comes out of their mouth sometimes its not personal. I laugh at my daughter and the stuff that comes out of her mouth sometimes and shes doesnt have any handicap so its how you do it. If its not malicious I dont see it being wrong.

 

[cam elle toe]

Heres a true story

My old soccer coach had a mild form of it. We got used to him, and didnt think much about it until...

Post match drinkies at the pub one arvo...(it was more pronounced when he had a few drinks)..
we saw him chatting to the local, ummm, how can I say it nicely (I cant, so) slut.

Next minute he has disappeared with her...he came back joking it was the one time his Tourettes actually got him a bit:thumbup

 

[Peter Parka]

Exactly how I feel! The guy, John, in this film, I thought was a legend because of the way he dealt with it but also a lot of his ticks were very witty. He has very low self confidence because of his condition but I think he would make an awesome talk show host, though I doubt many celebrities would dare being on it! :thumbup

 

[HottyToddyChick]

My motor learning teacher had it. He was a twitcher and I always thought he was going to slosh coffee all over himself.

On day one, he told us about it, but said it was only his physical movements and that if he was swearing at us, that was him and not the tourettes. He also said that his wife says "Those that can't, teach" and that's why he teaches motor control (because he has no control, haha).

So, I laugh, only because he made jokes and had accepted it. I've seen some people on tv who are so frustrated by having it, that it's impossible to feel anything but sad.

 

[cam elle toe]

There is an operation they can do now...I saw it on Maury Povich:nod:

He had a beautiful girl on who had a shocking case of it. I'm pretty sure she's had the op now

 

[Guyzerr]

I watched that show and had mixed emotions about the presentation. They spent quite a bit of time showing their symptoms and that was informative. Where they missed the boat imo is not showing the reactions of the general public when they are out and about.

Rewind to about 1957 - 1968ish............
The reason I say that is because I stuttered to the point of my family not being able to understand me. I endured years upon years of ridicule from strangers and fought my way through my younger years. It frustrated me to no end when I knew I would have to speak. Ultimately I would end up in a fight because some bastard wouldn't stop teasing me. In the end that toughened me up and helped me later on in life but as a kid having to deal with the gawking, laughter etc brought on a lot of hardship and outright misery. My parents never teased me but they did try and change me. Back then they didn't know enough about stuttering so they would tell me to slow down, force me to read out loud etc. That shit doesn't work as they are aware of today. If they would have shown the public end of it I would have been a bit more open about the show. People need to know to leave them the hell alone.

I ended up having my stuttering " cured " and I really don't have an explanation. This is what happened. My first period of Social Studies in high school we were advised that everyone would stand up and read a paragraph from the text book out loud. I went up to Mr. Fucking Olson and after what seemed like hours managed to tell him I wasn't going to participate. He told me nobody was exempt so sit your arse down and wait for your turn. I counted the number of people before me, then found my paragraph, read it in my mind a hundred times and when my turn came I stood up expecting the worse and started reading. I made it through the paragraph without stuttering. To this day I remain free of the demon unless I'm either over tired, very mad or excited. I do have a constant fear of it returning though.

Because of my personal experience I don't ever try and " assist " someone that stutters. I don't gawk at them or anyone else that has some sort of impairment... ever. To me they are people just like everyone else and that's the way I treat them. I will also reprimand anyone that does it in front of me and it doesn't matter if they are known to me or not.

 

[Peter Parka]

Good stuff, mate, and thanks for sharing that. Because of my aspergers, I have sufferd similar bad situations in my life and because of ignorance surrounding it, I only got diagnoses a year or so ago, I went through my whole life fustrated, angry and feeling like I was some kind of weirdo. Just being diagnosed and realising it's not my fault has helped tremendously because if I do get into sticky situations, I can explain why and the Police cant bully me like they used to, either. I have also been able to make my friends aware of why I go off on one sometimes and they are very understanding and protective.
To get back to this guy with tourettes, I wouldn't treat him any different to anyone else if I met him but if one of his ticks was genuinely funny which they were, all too often, in this film, I would find it funny, the same as I can appreciate anyone finding my perculialities funny. It's better to laugh that to be offended through ignorance, right?

 

[Springsteen]

You really shouldn't laugh at it but when you see someone like Marty from Shameless, you can't help it.

 

[Guyzerr]

It's better to laugh that to be offended through ignorance, right?

I agree that it is but it does tend to get a bit old as the years go by and a person can only take so much. That's the part most people just don't understand. They might think they are the only ones laughing but we know they are one of many and it adds up to multitudes. It is funny shit though which makes it hard to avoid laughing. Same with stuttering I guess. Still... if you laugh at me when I stuttered I'd punch your fucking lights out. Now if I would have been American that could of been catistrophic.

A little story about Tourettes....

A wack of years ago my best buddy was attending university. I sent him an e-mail and wrote it as if I had Tourettes. Every third of forth word was fuck or whatever. He told me he was in the library when he opened up the mail and was roaring his fool head off. He said the racket he made pissed a lot of people off to the point he was asked to quiet down or leave. :24:

 

[Thornless]

I was laughing.... I probably shouldn't, but I couldn't help it. :24:

 

[satinbutterfly]

My roomie's ex had Tourettes. I was able to keep from laughing... though at times it was hard. Sometimes the ticks can be pretty damned amusing.

I think if they find it funny, why can't you? But obviously if they don't, it's probably not appropriate.

 

[dt3]

Forget what society dictates, if something is funny then there should be nothing wrong with laughing.

 

[sierrabravo]

fuck! cock! BALL LICKER! *excuse me*

 

[Dana]

Being PC is overrated. That's all I'm sayin...

 

[Alien Allen]

I watched that show and had mixed emotions about the presentation. They spent quite a bit of time showing their symptoms and that was informative. Where they missed the boat imo is not showing the reactions of the general public when they are out and about.

Rewind to about 1957 - 1968ish............
The reason I say that is because I stuttered to the point of my family not being able to understand me. I endured years upon years of ridicule from strangers and fought my way through my younger years. It frustrated me to no end when I knew I would have to speak. Ultimately I would end up in a fight because some bastard wouldn't stop teasing me. In the end that toughened me up and helped me later on in life but as a kid having to deal with the gawking, laughter etc brought on a lot of hardship and outright misery. My parents never teased me but they did try and change me. Back then they didn't know enough about stuttering so they would tell me to slow down, force me to read out loud etc. That shit doesn't work as they are aware of today. If they would have shown the public end of it I would have been a bit more open about the show. People need to know to leave them the hell alone.

I ended up having my stuttering " cured " and I really don't have an explanation. This is what happened. My first period of Social Studies in high school we were advised that everyone would stand up and read a paragraph from the text book out loud. I went up to Mr. Fucking Olson and after what seemed like hours managed to tell him I wasn't going to participate. He told me nobody was exempt so sit your arse down and wait for your turn. I counted the number of people before me, then found my paragraph, read it in my mind a hundred times and when my turn came I stood up expecting the worse and started reading. I made it through the paragraph without stuttering. To this day I remain free of the demon unless I'm either over tired, very mad or excited. I do have a constant fear of it returning though.

Because of my personal experience I don't ever try and " assist " someone that stutters. I don't gawk at them or anyone else that has some sort of impairment... ever. To me they are people just like everyone else and that's the way I treat them. I will also reprimand anyone that does it in front of me and it doesn't matter if they are known to me or not.

That is a fascinating story. Believe it or not I try not to judge people in person either.

On a side note my cousin worked for us back around 1970 or so. He stuttered badly as his son does now and then also . Anyway one day another contractor stopped by to borrow a tool and this guy also stutters pretty badly. They had never met each other so when they met this time both thought the other was mocking each other. I understand it got pretty heated until somebody got it sorted out.

I made a point long ago to make every effort to not mock anybody for something out of their control. I have put up with enough bull shit myself to understand how cruel that can be.

 

[squ1r3ll]

I think that as long as the person who has tourettes doesn't mind you laughing and they know that you are laughing at what they have said as opposed to the condition then it is ok. If you are taking the piss out of them for it, then it is VERY wrong.