How to help a person with tics/tourettes
don't stare: ticcing in public is incredibly stressful, and people with tics are very often on edge and fearful of reactions and stares. Staring causes stress, stress causes more tics. So if you see someone ticcing, don't gawp at them as if they're an animal in a zoo.
if you hear someone making a noise, no you didn't: I've had teachers address the noises that I make because of my tics in front of my entire class, leading me to have to explain my condition to the teacher and all my peers. People make sounds for a number of reasons, ticcing, stimming, etc. Please do your best to be understanding and just in general avoid publicly humiliating others.
Don't shame: don't tell someone their tics are annoying or hold an individuals accountable for saying something they do not mean and cannot control. Tics can be about anything, that does not mean that is what the person is thinking or that is something they say often or would ever want to say. Asking us to stop ticcing is NOT a fair a demand.
Do not hold down someone while ticcing: this can make matters a lot worse. When someone tics it satisfies a sort of urge, by holding us back you are not stopping the problem, in fact it can cause the tics to become more severe. The general consensus is do not interfere with tics unless a person is in danger or has asked you to.
Ask them!!: different people will have different preferences of how they want to be treated with their tics. Some people prefer when you laugh at tics because it makes the situation less awkward as well as making the person ticcing feel better. I personally hate anyone who's not someone I'm close to laughing at my tics. Ask a person with tics how they want you to react to their tics as well as how you can help them as a whole.
Accessibility: there are certain things you can do to make groups and environments accessible to those with tics. Having a safe, private and quiet space is incredibly helpful. I have many accommodations within the school environment, such as being able to get out of class, wear headphones or earphones, use fidgets and take exams separately from other students.
Don't fake claim: different people will all experience tics differently, tics can come on suddenly, they can go through periods where they're barely visible and often the full extent of what someone goes through is not apparent to onlookers. Often those who fake claim know nothing about a disorder, fake claiming in general is extremely damaging however drastically more so when done by someone who has no idea what they're talking about. Fake claiming does our community no benefit, all it does is make it more difficult for us to access support for our disability, with people being denied care and accomodations. It is much better to let a few fakers run around than damage an entire group of people. If someone who is faking is spreading misinformation or causing damage to the community that is another issue entirely and should be dealt with.
Don't fetishise: tics are not just some fetish, they are not a porn category. Tics can be disabling, they cause us to be ostracised, judged and bullied. As a general rule of thumb do not call someone's tics or just any symptom of their disability "cute". It is so incredibly frustrating, when something brings you such pain will be seen by others as "cute". Fetishisation does damage to our community, does damage to the movement we are making and does damage to individuals.
educate yourself, be understanding: you will not always understand, and there will likely be things you might not never understand however as a general rule, be kind. Having tics will result in limitations as well as need for certain accomodations. If there are two things you must take away from this:
Be kind, be understanding
