Living with Tourette's
For Tourette’s sufferer Adam Ladell, trying to sit still for 10 seconds without twitching or speaking is a huge challenge.
But give him a microphone and the chance to sing and the 18 year old’s Tourette Syndrome instantly disappears.
“When I sing the Tourette’s goes away, so it’s kind of like the world is telling me I have to sing to get rid of my Tourette’s,” Adam told reporter Rahni Sadler in an inspiring Sunday Night interview.
Adam was five when he began to develop Tourette Syndrome; a neurological condition characterised by involuntary sounds and movements called tics.
Tourette’s affects roughly one in 100 Australians, with 10 per cent of those also diagnosed with coprolalia, the uncontrollable use of offensive language.
While filming for Sunday Night, Adam met two more boys living with Tourette’s, 11-year-old Cameron Schubert and 26-year-old James Sayers.
The trio formed an immediate bond and found they had a common remedy for their condition: music.
Adam came runner up on The Voice last year, and said singing allowed him to be transported to another world.
“You lose focus of absolutely everything around you. The anxiety goes down… you're just thinking about the song and you get this feeling. I think that feeling is the thing that kind of eliminates the Tourette's to be honest, so it's almost like really deep concentration,” he told Sunday Night.
For James, playing the drums brings relief from his tics.
With his long hair and boundless energy, he fits the part of the heavy metal rockstars he admires.
“Music is just so therapeutic. I guess it goes back to that idea of I am focusing on something I enjoy,” he said.
Cameron, the youngest of the group, finds that his Tourette’s disappears when he plays the guitar. He's even considering a career in music.
"I love guitar. I'm hoping to keep playing that and maybe do gigs when I'm older," he said.
When the three boys are together, one tic will set all of them off in a chorus of sporadic movements and sounds.
“People with Tourette’s don’t mind if you laugh, because we understand it’s freaking funny!” Adam said.
