Intersectionality has failed the Tourette's community

Even though my case of Tourette's is mild and even after almost 30 years since I first started having tics, I still feel so self-conscious and shameful about them that I mask and hide them from people and deny to myself that I have them. It took me until 5 or 10 years ago to admit to myself that I even officially had Tourette's because even though I knew I grew up with tics and my brother was diagnosed and it runs in my family, I used the fact that my parents never bothered to get me officially diagnosed as something to latch onto because of that shame. I've looked through the rules they use to diagnose it and I definitely have it as I have had multiple motor and vocal tics starting from when I was around 6, which aren't caused by anything else.

The reason we feel so much shame is because we don't have a support system outside of our own community, and because everyone attacks us. The proper response from the black community and society as a whole should have been love, acceptance, and support, acknowledging that it was ok and that John didn't do anything wrong and neither does anyone who has tics, and a way for John and us to relieve the stress of having tics in the first place.

People should have been offering meditation services and support groups for the whole Tourette's community and for John to deal with having to have said those things in the first place and the attention from it. There should have been proper recognition of the harm having tics causes the tic-haver and the harm the response society has causes the tic-haver. Instead I'm seeing John and the whole Tourette's community receive not only endless horrid and uninformed comments but also comments calling for violence, including death threats. John said it was the worst few days of his life and someone even stole his bike.

This last week was a good example of the stigma we face, and that stigma is why the Tourette's community has a way higher rate of feeling suicidal, attempting suicide, completing suicide, feeling shame, feeling self-hatred, depression, and self-harm than those without Tourette's. We also deal with loads of hate crimes including violence and murder because it's easier to get away with harming someone if you can just say they were being offensive.

And even with all of that oppression, we don't have the flip side of it: a support movement. We still don't have our own civil rights movement. We don't have any marches, we don't have a month to celebrate us. We don't have the equivalent of Black Lives Matter or even Autism Acceptance Day. We were finally hoping to get our civil rights movement started with the BAFTA awards because John was there to promote his movie about Tourette's called I Swear, which from the trailer looks like an amazing way to teach people about it and advocate for support and acceptance.

What we need from society is support, not hate. We are a minority that gets witch hunted and hated by everyone else. We are labelled as evil and hate-crimed constantly. Intersectionality and mutual aid includes the Tourette's community too, and you all have failed us. You cannot have Total Liberation without supporting the Tourette's community and giving us the acceptance and tools we need to thrive in society. I really hope that everyone watches I Swear when it comes out in theaters near you or is available online wherever and whenever you can find it. It reminds me of Kneecap, which has been well supported by everyone, and I hope it leads to that sort of acceptance movement.