While You Were Washing the Dishes

My sister is a hospital doctor. She lives across the road from me with her husband King Russell and my niece Bean. They’re less than a hundred metres away and you can even see my place from their top floor.

The longest I’ve gone without seeing my sister since she was born is six weeks, and that’s only happened a handful of times.…

Life on The Spaceship

Just over a week ago it became clear that in order to stay as healthy as possible during the current COVID-19 pandemic, I needed to self-isolate. I always need close physical support from others to complete many essential daily tasks like washing or moving in and out of my chair, but this close contact increases the risk of me catching the virus or me passing it to others, so I also decided to limit the number of different people providing my support.…

Lockdown Challenges - Week One

Before working full time for Touretteshero I was an inclusive playworker. This means I’ve got a lot of games stored in my brain which until recently I’ve had much less use for. But now this pandemic has come along I’m reaching for them so I can share them with the parents, carers and children care about, in particular my niece Bean who’s almost three, and my God-kids Leo and Ruby who’re seven and eight.…

Visual Schedules - For Pandemics And Beyond

I’ve been indoors for a week now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and from tomorrow children across the country will also be at home as most of the schools have closed.

One of the first things I did for myself when I knew I was going to be spending a lot of time at home was make a schedule to help give my day a routine and to make sure that I still ate and rested at sensible times.…

Waves of Worry

I consider myself to be a pretty calm and rational person, but it’s the early hours of the morning and I’m struggling to clear my mind of worries. This is after a day of being hit by waves of anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic.…

Touretteshero COVID-19 Statement

This post is to address the COVID-19 outbreak and to describe what we are planning to do as a Company.

As a disabled-led organisation, our primary focus is to maintain the health and wellbeing of all our staff as best we can.…

Mummy Is A Doctor - A Story for Beans Everywhere

My niece Bean is almost three. Her mum is my sister, regular readers know her as Fat Sister, a name my tics came up with many years ago while she was on a diet. Fat Sister is a doctor at a large London hospital, and she was on call last weekend.…

Neighbourly Note

As fears around the COVID-19 pandemic intensify, the pressure on many of the systems we take for granted has intensified too. Social media is full of photos of supermarkets with empty shelves and reports of people fighting for supplies.

In a time of uncertainty and tension, the urge to look inward at our own immediate needs is understandable.…

Disability in a Time of Pandemic

The world’s in the midst of a global pandemic and everyone is rightly being encouraged to practice good hygiene and to socially-distance themselves from others, limiting day-to-day physical contact to reduce the chances of passing the virus from one person to another.…

Join The Team

Back in January we announced the exciting news that Touretteshero had been given a grant from Arts Council England’s Elevate Fund to develop and grow our team and the work that we do.

Our mission is to use Tourettes as a catalyst for celebration and social change – we want to be part of creating a more inclusive and socially just society for both disabled and non-disabled people.…