Watch: Minister With Tourette's - Fascinating

When the media focuses on people with Tourette's Syndrome, they often show children with the condition, because children are the ones that frequently exhibit the most severe tics.  It's rare to find someone of my age (35), or even in their late 30s or 40s with moderate to severe tics.  This is because Tourette's is commonly diagnosed in adolescence, and by the time someone has reached that age, the condition has been managed for many years with medication.  Many times, by then, the person has learned how to disguise their tics.  They have turned something that was a vocal tic, into what is now a sniffle or a clearing of the throat.  And for some people, Tourette's has simply just gone away with adulthood.

Below are a couple of videos of Matt Ford, a minister from Australia.  He has Tourette's Syndrome, and, at his age, it's one of the most severe cases I have seen in a while.  I wanted to post these videos of Matt, not for his message, but just to show another side of the condition.



The second video is of Matt giving a sermon in front of a crowd.  There are two things that I found interesting.  First, he has the same condition I do, in that he repeats himself over and over again with certain words.  It felt awkward watching someone else do that.  Secondly, I noticed how he disguises his tics.  He pretends to speak in tongues, which I find deplorable.  He's using a neurological condition that his parishioners do not fully understand, and is acting like it's "god's holy spirit" speaking through him.  Unless you really understood Tourette's Syndrome, you would never know.  You would be a believer.  I also want to have you pay attention to around the 7 minute mark of the clip.  At that point, he becomes weak, disoriented, and very fatigued.  It's almost as if he's drunk.  He's not acting.  His Tourette's tics have taken so much energy out of him, it's taken so much energy to try to remain focused on what he was doing, that he is literally collapsing from exhaustion.  I have been there many times.  It takes that much out of you.



You may not like what he does for a living (I don't), or what he has to say (I don't either), but you have to admire his dedication.