Cultural Attitudes Toward Tourette Syndrome
Tourette's is a misunderstood and misrepresented disorder in our culture. Most television shows and movies perpetuate the stereotype that Tourette's is just about echolalia, a continuous repetition of other's words or phrases, and coprolalia, a repetitive and involuntary use of obscene language (Sacks 77).
Coprolalia
Coprolalia is the most common misconception about Tourette's. Individuals believe that those with Tourette's just wander around society constantly cursing. A distortion of the perception of Tourette's can be seen in this South Park Episode. The episode "Le Petit Tourette" excessively demonstrates and connotates that Tourette's is just about coprolalia. It also demonstrates how people can take advantage of such a disorder, with Eric Cartman faking that he has Tourette's in order to be able to curse around his school. However, only about 10% of individuals with Tourette's actually express these socially unacceptable verbal tics (Deoilers).
Echolalia
Similar to coprolalia, individuals with Tourette's engage in echolalia. Dr. Bennett in An Anthropologist on Mars displays this when he started speaking "sudden, high-pitch vocalizations, in a voice completely unlike his own, that sounded like 'Hi, Patty,' 'Hi, there,' and, on a couple of occasions, 'Hideous!'" (Sacks 80). These vocalizations were believed to a former girlfriend's name (Sacks 81). However, echolalia isn't always present in individuals with Tourette's. These tics usually occur because of a disruption in the train of thought (Sacks 80).
Reaction to Cultural Stigmas
Jamie Sanders, an individual who has Tourette's, reacts to media postings about Tourette's in the video on the left. In that, he talks about how many references cause offense to those who have his disorder, especially with the misrepresentation of coprolalia. However, he says that he is able to stand some of the lighthearted jokes about Tourette's, like the one in the beginning of the video on the Jimmy Fallon show where he imitates coprolalia. This impersonation is kept to a limit, however, which doesn't perturb Jamie.
These portrayals of Tourette's causes those individuals with the disorder to feel socially outcast and taken advantage of.
