by Olivia Battistoni

Tourette's does not have to limit a person's social participation, when people become accepting of the tics and become comfortable with them, they can become a source of amusement and enjoyment. If people can accept the tics without looking at those with the condition as outcasts for their seemingly odd head movements or other tendencies, it makes it easier for those with the condition to no longer view view their syndrome as a disease and see it more as a part of who they are, a unique quality that does not have to limit them from going out and living as a social being as those without the disease do.

Should you take away the social stigma that is still present around the disease, Tourette's doesn't limit one's participation in a meaningful life, and contrary to what most believe it does not limit one's career and hobby options. It seems strange to think that someone with uncontrollable urges could be a surgeon, capable of performing a two and a half hour complex surgery without complications from his condition, but Dr. Bennett, a man who has dealt with Tourette's for most of his life has done just that. How this is possible lies in the the fact that while Tourette's causes the mind to obsessively perform certain tasks, it also allows for a hyper focus, as described by Dr Oliver Sacks in his study of Dr. Bennett. In describing the increased focus Dr. Sacks writes "Such keen, fierce attention to every detail such constant looking below the surface, such examination and analysis, is characteristic of the restless, questioning Tourettic mind. It is, so to speak, the other side of its obsessive and perseverative tendencies, its disposition to reiterate, to touch again and again." (Anthropologist on Mars 80) While the tics can have their downsides as aforementioned, especially in making the person suffering from Tourette's feel outcast, the mind of a person with the condition also has an increased ability for close attention and focus on detail. This in turn makes it possible for them to be extremely successful at the things one might think to be impossible for a person with such a condition. Dr. Bennett for example, suffers from a pretty serious case of Tourettes, his tics being very pronounced in most of the things he does. So then one would think that these tics would severely limit his potential, but this is not the case, in fact the opposite. Due to his Tourette Syndrome Dr. Bennett has a better focus when in the operating room than many others have, because his thoughts are flowing and hyperfocused on the surgery he is performing. However, if someone were to interrupt his surgery this would interrupt his focus and lead to the resurfacing of the tics. Dr. Oliver Sacks recalls a similar instance he saw in watching Dr. Bennett drive, during continuous smooth aspects of the drive, Dr. Bennett's tics were unapparent but when interrupted by stop lights they again became very apparent (81). So, while the tics can have drawbacks and present themselves when the person with the condition wishes they wouldn't, tourettic tics do not completely disable a person from never being able to focus, as Dr. Sacks suggests, the tourettic mind might actually have better focus than a normal mind. "This relation is often destructive, but it can also be constructive, can add speed and spontaneity, and a capacity for unusual and sometimes startling performance. For all its intrusiveness, Tourette's may be used creatively, too." (78)