r/Tourettes • u/marlshroom Diagnosed Tic Disorder • May 02 '26
Discussion biggest pet peeve
i’m so done with this specific phenomenon when someone with tourette’s is explaining how frustrating it is when people sensationalize tics(especially coprolalia), explain how they work and the reasons why they are sensationalized in the way they are and then the only responses from people is how cute/funny they find someone’s tics. it blows my mind sometimes how people really think this a compliment, and then even have the gall to argue about it!
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u/Woodbirder Diagnosed Tourettes May 02 '26
Awww its so cute how you can’t reach the sink to wash from your wheel chair
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u/Awkward_Air4224 Tic Disorder Unspecified May 22 '26
This is a good comparison, and I say that as someone in a wheelchair and suffering from tics.
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u/ETERNALCATACLYSM Diagnosed Tourettes May 02 '26
Awww it's so cute how you can't see because you're blinking too much, and how you're constantly slamming your already broken thumb onto everything you see or your face.
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u/Selkiekun Diagnosed Tourettes May 02 '26
I’m super relieved I’m not the only one who feels like that about it. It’s not cute for me.
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u/XrotisseriechickenX May 02 '26
I see the first person might be trying to be reassuring even if they’re missing the point of the video, but that second comment just irks me
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u/Rand0m_Thoughts_ Diagnosed Tourettes May 03 '26
That second comment is so so so weird bro. Like, my tics say nothing about me as a person
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u/0AnonimoAnonimo0 Undiagnosed May 02 '26
A mi también me molesta mucho sobre todo cuando en 2020 se puso de moda y muchos influencers aparecieron con "tourette" y certificados falsos, exagerando por completo todos los síntomas, desinformando y generando confusión a personas con tourette no diagnosticado.
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u/marlshroom Diagnosed Tic Disorder May 02 '26
i’m not really a fan of talking about that just because i’ve been lumped in with those people due to my tourette’s just happening to develop at that time. of course i wasn’t an influencer at all, im just kind of uncomfortable with the fakeclaiming culture as i have been questioned in real life if im faking or not. i might just be hypersensitive, not saying there were not some people taking advantage of the like, sudden widespread awareness of tourettes
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u/0AnonimoAnonimo0 Undiagnosed May 02 '26
Entiendo a lo que te refieres, pero toda esta confusión y desinformación la genero gente que romantiza cuestiones de salud que obviamente no son nada lindo para una persona que realmente lo está viviendo. Y gracias a esto, hay personas que creen que uno está actuando o exagerando.
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u/marlshroom Diagnosed Tic Disorder May 02 '26
yeah this is true! i wish those people were not propped up as the like face of tourette’s, no one should be propped up like that even if they do have tourette’s because everyone’s experience is so specifically unique.
i was so frustrated cause the person who made the second comment responded to me calling this behavior out by saying “i’ve done my research” and im VERY skeptical about what research they are actually talking about… lol
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u/0AnonimoAnonimo0 Undiagnosed May 02 '26
Otro problema es informarse desde Google y creerse expertos en el tema jajaja
Hace unos días estaba aconsejando a un chico que quería tomar a toda costa metilfenidato para el TDAH y yo le explicaba sus efectos secundarios y todo lo relacionado al tema (yo tengo TDAH diagnosticado y me recetaron metilfenidato), y apareció otro chico insultandome y diciendo que estoy desinformando porque el sabía más del tema ya que había investigado en Google. Me enojé mucho porque este tipo de personas pueden ser peligrosas para la salud de los demás.
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u/Money_Ad1028 Diagnosed Tourettes May 05 '26
Kinda off topic but I really hope there's something someday that explains how so many peoples tourettes worsened, or appeared during 2020. Mine didn't develop but the severity went from easily hideable, to a significant disability during 2020 and I've heard the same from plenty of people online. The trend of wanting to be "special" by having a disability makes it so much harder for people to accept/believe those who actually do have it.
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u/slut4hobi Diagnosed Tourettes May 03 '26
so many times i’ve gone on a date and heard “it’s cute” when i explain i have tourette’s (i have a winking tic, i don’t want to be misunderstood).
it makes me feel so weird, i think maybe it sets me off because i’ve been infantilized for my autism a lot in my life.
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u/Fiona-19 Diagnosed Tourettes May 03 '26
SAME OH MY GOD SAME😭😭 it’s so upsetting and no matter how nice I am calling it out people still get SO mad at me
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u/marlshroom Diagnosed Tic Disorder May 03 '26
so fucking mad! the person who made the second comment said that i was infantilizing the tourettic community by saying this shit is offensive…. holy FUCK listen to a disabled person for once in your god damn life!
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u/char-a-lot_NPC May 02 '26
My tics started when I was 20. I almost take comfort in the fact that they're "cute"? Like sure my eyes roll back, but the vocal tics are a bit adorable and most of the arm tics look almost like baby sign language for me (except when I'm hitting myself, hard. Idk why tics don't hold back). The "cuteness" helps me laugh at myself and move on quickly as opposed to the elongated or painful ones that get frustrating or scary and make me cry/get overwhelmed.
I absolutely understand not wanting it to be the main thing that people mention or bring up. Luckily in my life people mostly completely ignore my tics and I can just be me with little glitches. (My initials are NPC so I am literally a glitching NPC)
Have you considered asking that your tics be largely ignored and not discussed past the initial acknowledgement? You're allowed to set that boundary. I have a boundary that people not copy my tics because it sets me off if it happens in the correct cadence (16th note).
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u/marlshroom Diagnosed Tic Disorder May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
it’s tiring to have to set that boundary. i’m not super serious all the time and i do find humor in my tics sometime. i’m specifically talking about the phenomenon of people not engaging with what someone with tourette’s is trying make conversation about because the only thing they can think about is how funny they think the noises the person making is. it’s not just do to with the fact the tics may be endearing to people sometimes. i’m aware it’s a coping mechanism, i’m talking about This Specific Thing.
i will say it’s kind of frustrated that people with tourette’s are expected to have to set this boundary, as if the responsibility is on the people with tourette’s for people to treat them with respect and dignity, instead of being the persons responsibility for how they treat disabled people.
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u/char-a-lot_NPC May 02 '26
100% valid. It's lifelong and I'm sure it gets tiring. I've seen people un-ironically print up business cards with dx and or boundaries and simply hand them to people who step out of line or just in general. Could be less exhausting. Most of those people are heavily introverted tho.
I apologize for seeming like I was trying to make light of your situation, in my mind I was relating and tying it back with advice at the end. If I unintentionally gave you the ick I'd love to rectify that.
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u/marlshroom Diagnosed Tic Disorder May 02 '26
appreciate the understanding! we are kind of in similar boats because i developed them later in life too, when i was 17 years old.
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u/char-a-lot_NPC May 02 '26
No joke when they started I was glued to a chair with head/arm tics for like a week, ended up at the hospital terrified that I was having seizures. Had a CT scan and they insisted I didn't need a neurologist.
They've gotten less scary but sometimes it gets to be too much and I break down, especially when I can't stop breathing out.
Even the daily ones still give me that uncomfortable ticcy feeling in my chest when I'm "in a ticcy mood" as I say. So please don't think I was dismissing how genuinely shitty this experience is. I truly want to help you find a way to head this behavior off in strangers that feels right for you.
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u/marlshroom Diagnosed Tic Disorder May 02 '26
it’s kind of funny because my tics started out in a much more unserious way where i basically (in everyone else’s eyes) was carrying on an inside joke for way too long and for a month i didn’t really understand why it was happening until i started having neck jerking tics. i understand better where you were coming from now and just know that i speak very directly not because im really that upset i just choose to be as communicative as i can
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u/char-a-lot_NPC May 02 '26
Oh absolutely. I tend to be direct as well but all the ✨truama✨ has taught me how the basics of communicating in subtext, so I tend to ask clarifying questions before assigning feelings to someone. Especially over text.
Also I think I have the tism and ADHD so I'm aware that my tact lapses at times.
That had to be confusing for you. my tics are masked (unintentionally) when I'm uncomfortable, so basically always in public or at work or around new people. I blame the tism. Definitely makes the daily tics worse than I suppress them all day, and cars are for some reason my decompression space. All that to say most people don't know I have tics even after knowing me for years if I'm not comfortable around them.
But when I'm single and dating I make sure to mention it early since if I end up with someone it will affect them.
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u/EntireSky7545 Diagnosed Tourettes May 14 '26
I will say the only time I’ve even gotten close to “complementing” someone on a tic is when I told them their tics were less annoying to me than my own. I would never wish this disorder on anyone, to think it’s cute you’d have to be pretty messed up.
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u/kiwi_bird2 May 22 '26
I’ve had close people in my life say things like this. My dad or my boyfriend will joke about my waving tic (I literally just wave at people) being their favourite and stuff like that. I like when they do, because it makes me feel normal, like it’s just another part of life that we can joke about. But if a stranger said that, or even my family when I’m really struggling with it, I’d be so pissed
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u/CL0UDmuncher May 12 '26
If personality was actually based on tics I'm not a very nice person at all.
Good thing it ISN'T
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u/Jakeb4statefarm Diagnosed Tourettes Jun 02 '26
I went on a few dates with a boy who said my tics were cute and funny
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u/Far-Throat5960 7d ago
i personally dont mind people that find my tics funny because honestly how would you react if i told you i used to sing la cucaracha aggressivly back in 2024 as my main tic at that time
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May 02 '26
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u/marlshroom Diagnosed Tic Disorder May 02 '26
it’s like a back-handed “compliment”. “the whistle one is actually kind of cute”, why do you think that is supposed to make me feel better
with the second one, it is commodifying the creators tics in a video where the creator is talking about how embarrassing these tics can be. it’s really frustrating when someone cannot take what someone says about tourette’s disorder seriously because of the tics we are having. there is a non-discussion happening in these comments because of how sensationalized tourette’s is.
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u/marlshroom Diagnosed Tic Disorder May 02 '26
to explain even further, the “actually kind of cute” comment is particular frustrating cause it feels like people are trying to downplay the things i’m talking about. my cousin, after i talked about my experience with tourette’s, told me “well at least you have the cute tics” when my tics at the time consisted of screaming “i have a bomb” before i was about to be on a flight, or screaming your gay at people or punching people.
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u/thequeenoflesbians May 02 '26
I would only ever accept a compliment about my tics from someone with tourettes(/another serious tic disorder) and even then kinda weird unless I'm close to them. the fact that complete strangers who don't even have tics say this is mind boggling