Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month Begins TODAY!!!!

Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month begins today, May 15th, and runs through June 15th.  In support of those with Tourette Syndrome, please wear teal on Tuesdays during TS Awareness Month!  The Tourette Syndrome Association of America has renamed itself The Tourette Association of America.  With a new website and a new logo, TAA is looking to bring massive awareness of this disability to America!  As of May 22nd, http://tourette.org will be the new website, replacing http://www.tsa-usa.org/index.html.

In Delaware, the awareness month was honored yesterday by the Delaware 148th General Assembly when both the State House of Representatives and Senate unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolution #36, recognizing the awareness month.  Tomorrow, in Glasgow Park in Newark, DE, there will be a TS Walk in honor of Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month, beginning at 10:00am.

For students with Tourette Syndrome in Delaware, the call for awareness and acceptance has never been greater.  As a father of a child with TS, it can be very tough for our kids.  Acceptance and understanding can be difficult.  For those who happen to see a child ticcing, or maybe even making noises, try to understand these children can not help it.  And drawing attention to tics usually result in greater stress for the child, which only increases the tics.  Children with TS are just like any other kid, they just happen to have something others don’t.

Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month Recognized By Delaware In House Concurrent Resolution 36

Today, the Delaware House of Representatives voted unanimously to pass House Concurrent Resolution #36, which recognizes Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month, running from May 15th to June 15th in Delaware. Sponsored by State Reps Debra Heffernan and Jeffrey Spiegelman, this is the first resolution of its kind for Tourette Syndrome in Delaware.

The Chairpersons of the Delaware Tourette Syndrome Association, Susan Breakie and Pam Levin, both gave stirring and moving speeches about Tourette Syndrome and the discrimination and bullying that occurs in schools for TS students. Levin gave examples of situations TS kids and adults have to endure, such as “stop moving around and do your work in the hallway” when a student is ticcing, or an adult with TS being rejected from a job opportunity based on their disability. Breakie stressed there needs to be more awareness and acceptance of Tourette Syndrome to break the stereotypes concerning the “swearing” disease, and how it is a neurological and neurobiological disease with no cure.

A few children with Tourette Syndrome attended the event, and after the legislative session, they got to meet Governor Jack Markell and received Delaware pins from the Governor. It was a highlight for many of the attendees year to have this very unique and once in a lifetime opportunity!

Especially for this blogger!

Governor Markell, Kevin Ohlandt and Jacob Ohlandt, 5/14/15