Tic Files

I am very excited to be involved in the Plymouth Art Weekender this year.  I was approached by two lovely artists who I had met at my Yoga classes Carly Seller, and Lee Jackson, who asked if I wanted to get involved in their Arts Council funded project 'Sound Observations.' This is an interactive experience that ignites the senses and takes you on a journey across my favourite place in the whole wide world...Plymouth!    Plymouth Art Weekender is an ambitious three day event that takes place annually across the city. This is the third Art Weekender and it will be held on 22nd- 24th September 2017 all across the city at various indoor and outdoor venues. The Weekender confidently celebrates Plymouth, its people and the visual arts, promoting the city as an exciting contemporary art destination. The Weekender showcases a wide and diverse range of activity for all ages including a large array of events and exhibitions throughout the city by local, national and i...

My diagnosis cost £250 at the Nuffield Private Hospital (I did not buy a round at the pub that evening). It was necessary because there was a 21 week wait for an appointment on the NHS. I had 3 years of on and off physical and verbal tics until we started to get somewhere. I categorise my tics as follows: Physical including a whole spectrum of movements ranging from punching the sky and dropping to the floor to unseen muscle spasms and eye flickers. Verbal including shushing, throat clearing, and uncontrollable screaming or grunting.  For some reason I had managed to slip through the NHS GP's net, who stated I didn’t quite fit the criteria for TS. I must mention that my TS isn't always noticeable from day to day so this also made it a lengthy process, trying to get to the GP when I was having a bad day so they can see what was happening was tricky, and often a whole episode had passed by the time I got there. Not knowing what was going on in my own body was ...

Daunting...but I am speaking at the WOW Festival Exeter, on Sunday 15th October on a panel with Liz Carr.  As well as the discussion I will be teaching BSL Interpreted Yoga. See below for more info and to book a ticket if you want to come along. Sunday 15th October: 11.15am – 12.15pm Disability, Women andTaking Action "Why does much of the women’s rights movement  marginalise women with disabilities?" A panel of speakers discuss why disability is so often left out of conversations regarding intersectionality and surveys the key battlegrounds that disabled women are fighting on. Panel members include: Actor, comedian and disability  activist, Liz Carr;  Dance artist and yoga practitioner who has Tourette Syndrome, Clair Beckett (ME!) Chaired by Michelle Daley https://www.facebook.com/WOWExeter/ http://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/events/women-of-the-world/

I have Tourette Syndrome...and I want to learn more about it. I also want to spread awareness of this often misrepresented condition.  I have obsessively watched documentaries, youtube videos, read blogs, books...and no TS experience is the same or like mine, because it is different for everyone.  So I guess I am going to use this very self indulgent blog to explore TS... my TS, and hope that I educate people along the way. Like any disability or condition most people find it hard to describe what they experience or *tic* one box when it comes to explaining it. It's a beautiful spectrum of colour and uniqueness. To keep myself in check and so that I don’t babble on about all sorts of nonsense, I am going to have 3 key themes: Information and awareness: - When I started searching on the internet about TS pre to my diagnosis,  I didn’t find a lot of information that related to my version!  I want to add into the mix of what is out there on the wor...