'Tourettes On The Job'

A documentary bearing this title was shown on the British cable channel Living TV on the evening of 26th October. Its theme seemed to be that it's good for Tourettists to have jobs.

It featured four Tourettists, two British, one Irish and one American, and recounted their experiences in the job market. One of the British was a super Tourettist who now works for the US Postal Service. It was recounted that after emigrating to the United States, he had registered with a recruitment agency specialising in the placement of disabled people. This raised two thoughts.

The first was that it would surely not be impossible for a Tourettist to work for the Royal Mail, and if there are any super Tourettists working in a British sorting office, it would be very interesting to compare and contrast their experiences with those of the gentleman who now works for US Post. The second is that the UK has a state agency which specialises in the employment of the disabled. Its name is Remploy, and it's being eviscerated in the name of austerity.

Yes, it's good for Tourettists to have jobs.

The other British Tourettist works as an advertising executive in, ahem, the United States. I have the greatest sympathy for the lady - she has an extremely unpleasant illness, but a little time was devoted to her demonstrating the art of disguising her tics. As far as the task of educating the public in the ways of Tourettes Syndrome is concerned, this is kindergarten stuff.

The Irish Tourettist is an entertainment entrepreneur in London, and, with the greatest respect, gave the perhaps unjustified impression of being brittle even by the standards of our illness. I detected a very high degree of mental toughness in his speech, something I, alas, lack. I would find running a business impossible, so more power to his elbow. However, given that remarkably few people in the general population seem to want to run businesses, an entrepreneurial success story might not have been the most appropriate example to motivate people who might be on benefits and worrying about being chucked off them on the grounds of economy.

The American Tourettist was a second grade schoolteacher who had 24 job interviews before obtaining a classroom position. He has since won a Teacher Of The Year award. Again, more power to his elbow; but one must wonder how he would get on in front of a room of fractious 14 year old males. It is very gratifying to see a fellow sufferer being able to cope with the demands of a profession, but it could perhaps have done with a little leaven on the challenges other Tourettists have encountered in other professions.

So, a British TV show on a British TV station on the subject of Tourettists at work did not feature a single employed British Tourettist working in a job for someone else in any British workplace. This seemed to defeat the exercise of the broadcast completely, and I have to say the show did no real justice to this extremely difficult subject.