♥ Wednesday, May 7, 2008 @ 6:20 PM
`awAreneSs: tOurette’s syndrOme - “just sligthly different” people
0 Gave Some Love
Last Monday night when everybody else in our house was sleeping, I can’t sleep so I decided to watch t.v. I turned the channel to GMA-7 and the current program at that time was i-Witness. I have never watched this program before so I thought it would be too boring to watch. But when I was about to change the channel, the reporter told their topic for the night. "May T.S. Kami"
T.S.? Hahah ! i laughed at it because I thought it was just a cheap abbreviation over something stupid. But when the reporter explained further, I found out that it is actually Tourette’s Syndrome. obviously, it’s a disease (from the name itself). As a person who is really interested about illnesses/diseases, I became interested. What’s about this tourette’s syndrome? Is it inherited? What can it do to a person? The answers to these questions - I don’t know. So I decided to watch the program.
Tourettes Syndrome from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourette_syndrome
"Tourette syndrome (also called Tourette’s syndrome, Tourette’s disorder, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, GTS or, more commonly, simply Tourette’s or TS) is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by the presence of multiple physical (motor) ticsand at least one vocal (phonic) tic; these tics characteristically waxand wane. Tourette’s is defined as part of a spectrum of tic disorders, which includes transient and chronic tics."
In the first part of the program, the reporter looked for persons who have this kind of sickness. And she first interviewed Seve, a boy who was about seven or eight years old. When the boy was interviewed, I quickly noticed what was wrong with him. When he talked, he made sudden movements. Some kind of involuntary movements I think. Like you know, sometimes, he seem to lean backward, nod or like someone stub him in the back. Just like those movements. When I saw him, I felt pity for him. With that age! Gosh ! It’s just so unfair. Good thing is the boy said that his tics would eventually fade whenever he plays basketball.
There were two more interviewees. Let’s name them Mr. A and Mr. B because I honestly forgot their names. ^^, They were both males and have their own jobs right now. According to them, their tics fades whenever they try to focus on something.
According to them, often times especially Mr. A and Mr. B would see people staring at them. Maybe wondering why they act that way. Maybe thinking: "Are they abnormal?" "Oh my God, is it contagious?" Just these thoughts and more.
So the i-Witness family looked for the cause of T.S. and its cure. They found a nurse whose sisters(I think it was hers sisters) have T.S. She was even a member of the Philippine Tourette Association (I’m not sure if it is Tourettian or Tourette). She said that doctors have different theories on how T.S. started. But one thing is for sure. It is inherited - about 50% inheritance. In addition, she said that there are more number of males who have T.S. than females. According to her, the cure of T.S. is not yet known because it is a very rare disease.
One of the interviewed persons, Mr. B was also a member of Philippine Tourette Association. So they, the i-Witness crew and Mr. B(sorry, i don’t remember his name) brought Seve and Mr. A to the Association so they will not feel that they are not alone and that they are not different at all.
After watching i-Witness, I felt a sudden guilt. Why? Because you know honestly, sometimes when I see people who are quite, hmm , you know, weird? or really not normal? I tend to have a distance with them. But that’s not all the time. It differs in the situation. It differs what kind of weirdness I see.
But even though that’s the way it is, after I watched the show, I learned that I should be MORE considerate. So, I now don’t call them "weird"; rather "slightly different". Even the "slightly different" people need to feel that they really belong because truly, they really BELONG! In the first place. it is not their fault that they have T.S. Who would want to have that right? Who would want those judgmental looks from other people? I believe, there’s no one.
Moreover, I dedicate this blog to all people - the normal ones, the T.S. patients, the other "slightly different" people. I hope that everyone should learn to understand, considerate and sensitive to others.
