Five Years, Ten Minutes, Twenty Questions

Four years and 364 days ago I didn’t feel particularly strong or particularly good about myself. Every day for a long time I’d been fighting to ignore something that was very much a part of me, my Tourettes, and I was convinced that it was my own problem and not something I could share with anyone else.

Four years and 365 days ago, on 1st January 2010 this changed. Spurred on by Leftwing Idiot I decided it was ‘time to recognise and record something that’s a big part of my life.’ I started writing this blog and in that very first post I wrote:

‘From this point on, Tourettes is not my problem but my power. From now on I’m Touretteshero.’

I would never have dreamt that thinking, talking and writing about Tourettes would have such a positive impact on my life or that Touretteshero would grow from a simple idea into a fully formed organisation able to create change.

Today is our fifth birthday and it’s definitely not a milestone we’ve reached just by ourselves. So we want to say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone involved and to all those who’ve helped us, encouraged us and got what we’re doing.

This anniversary’s got me thinking about what Touretteshero’s achieved in the last five years and where we want it to be in another five. To help us with this, to reflect, plan and improve, we’re asking for your thoughts and ideas.

So over the next month we’ll be asking as many people as possible to give us ten minutes of their time to complete this survey. There are twenty questions, and in the spirit of that great game, most ask for simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers – but you can add more detail if you want to!

Everyone’s views are important, whether you have direct experience of Tourettes or not. The results of the survey will help us understand what we’ve achieved so far, and work out how to build on this and develop in the future.

We’re aiming for at least 50 responses so please do forgive any nagging over the next few weeks. And make sure you share the survey with anyone you can who might be interested.

Thank you in advance for helping us, and look out for more information over the coming months about other ways we’re planning to celebrate our 5th anniversary year.

Happy New Year – and Happy Birthday, Touretteshero.

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