BAFTA Fallout

Jess Thom a white wheelchair using woman being interviewed on the red carpet at the BAFTAs in 2023

I want to start this post with a significant caveat – attempting to talk about complex, emotive and highly charged issues within the constraints of the frenzied news cycle is difficult and unpredictable. Still, as the story of John Davidson’s tics at the BAFTAs last night continues on, I think it’s important to try and respond.…

Access To Work Inquiry - Submit Your Evidence Now

The word resist takes up most of this image, written in bright white capital letters on a black background. Underneath in smaller text it reads: Access to Work Inquiry - call for evidence. At the top of the image above the word resist is a yellow circle that has the letters AtW in it from this lots of yellow arrows flow pointing down towards the text below.

I’ve spent the last few days gathering evidence for the Public Accounts Committee inquiry into Access to Work. It’s becoming increasingly clear that huge, devastating changes are planned by the Government to Access To Work (ATW) and the future of many working disabled people and those they employ, hangs in the balance.…

For the Love of Hotknives

A photo taken from behind of Touretteshero and Captain Hotknives on stage at Battersea Arts Centre. The audience and sweeping ceiling of BAC'S Grand Hall is visible beyond them. The room is bathed in warm pink and blue light.

Content Warning: Description of death

I don’t know exactly where to start with this, so I’m going to get the devastating news out the way first. Then I can focus all my attention on paying tribute to an epic friend.

Last week my long-term creative collaborator, and one third of the Tourettes Bipolar Alliance, Christopher ‘Captain Hotknives’ Smith died suddenly at home.…

The Department for Wonder and Play - Shadows in the Light

An image in neon pink, on a black and white gradient background. An envelope, pencil and squiggly drawn lines are present in the image giving it a collaged feel. Text reads The Department for Wonder and Play - The other DWP. Zine Open Call. Shadows in the Light

Can you believe it’s been nearly three years since we launched our brilliant Zine, The Department for Wonder and Play? Now that we’ve got two volumes and two launch events under our collective belt, it feels like a good time to do it all over again!…

Introducing Knowledge Builders - Our New Research Programme

An illustration by Amber Anderson showing a group of seven disabled thinkers of different background sharing books and ideas. A giant lightbulb is at the centre and text, top, centre reads - Knowledge Builders. Top left is the Touretteshero logo and top right is the Knowledge for Change logo that is shortened to KFC and is white text on a red rectangle with a light bulb.

Supporting disabled-led thinking has been an important part of Touretteshero from the beginning, and over the last few years our research programmes have grown under the care of our Director of Research, Dr Will Renel. This got an added boost last year when Dr Chloe Trainor joined the team to coordinate our Knowledge for Change project.…

Access Anxiety

An image of the top of an Access to Work claim form that has been changed to look like a ransom note with the word anxiety replacing work and formed out of cut up letters. Bright, scrappy tape holds it onto a wall.

Often when I write these posts I’m doing it with a wide audience in mind, but this one is slightly different. While everyone’s welcome to read it, it’s particularly aimed at funding bodies, grant administrators and leaders across the arts and cultural sector, and it’s an urgent message.…

Return of the Rebels

A logo consisting of vertical bars of bright primary colours that are reminiscent of the painted planks of adventure playgrounds. Blocky white text outlined in black reads: Return of the Rebels

We’re a month away from Valentine’s Day, and if like Touretteshero, you and your family love inclusive, disabled-led, creative play, our event Return of the Rebels on Saturday 14th February is for you.

We’ve teamed up with the Whitechapel Gallery for Return of the Rebels, the second free, Rebel Play event that uses the positive play experiences of disabled children and adults as a creative springboard.…

In A Hopeless Place

A digital illustration of a black and white spotted cow, standing on a diagonal, facing and leaning forwards as if it’s curiously enquiring about you, the viewer. Its head is cocked and mouth open to add a cheekiness to this expression. The cow is superimposed over a lime green background with a series on brightly coloured circles transitioning from red to purple, down the colour spectrum, like a rainbow bullseye from which a curious cow has emerged.

For anyone old enough to remember, in 2011 Rihanna found love in a hopeless place. That place, if the video is anything to go by, turned out to be County Down in Northern Ireland. The song, with its catchy chorus, went to number one and spent an astonishing 63 weeks in the UK charts.…

Siblings Letter - Your Help Needed

A photograph showing the Touretteshero welcome pack on a desk in the Touretteshero office. The pack is a series of A5 letters in a box decorated with playful illustrations of clouds and stars. A colourful wall sticker that comes with the pack is visible in the background

Last year we launched the Touretteshero Welcome Pack, a set of artist designed letters that we provide free to children who are newly diagnosed with tics or Tourettes, and their families. The welcome pack includes letters to the child, to their parent/carers, and a version for them to give to their teachers and friends.…

Living with the Organist - Nisha Oza

A black line drawing on a white background, in the style of a medical etching. It shows a cross section of a human brain, at the top, centrally located is a silhouette of someone playing a church organ.

If living with Tourettes has taught me one thing it’s that brains are incredibly complex and that medical understandings of neurological conditions and the reality of living with them can often feel quite different from each other. For the rest of this post, I’m delighted to hand over to Touretteshero Senior Producer, Nisha for a post about Epilepsy, shifting perspectives and organists.…