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TikTok video exposes reality of woman's life with Tourette's

A Sydney woman living with Tourette syndrome has shocked users with a TikTok video showing a woman accusing her tics of not being a "normal" reaction for someone with her condition.

TikTok user meowmons uploaded a video of her on the crowded bus when she was having tics, saying it's the reality of discrimination.

"I was having coprolalia tics on the 426 bus Central to Newton and this woman calls me out and says 'stand up and let all your swearing out like a brave one' cos my swearing offended her," she wrote on the video.

Screenshot from the TikTok video the woman posted where she has written what happened on the bus. Image under writing is the inside of a crowded bus,
TikTok users were horrified by how the woman was treated. Source: TikTok

"She proceeds to threaten to call the police on me."

'Don't be a bystander

Coprolalia is a complex vocal tic which is the involuntary saying of inappropriate or obscene words.

In the video, the woman can be seen sitting up the front of the bus saying "that's not a normal reaction," pointing towards the woman who has said "f**k".

"I have Tourettes," she says back to the woman. "It's normal. Don't discriminate."

Other passengers on the bus can be heard telling the woman she has outbursts and it can't be helped.

"Thank you to the kind strangers who stepped in and spoke up," she wrote on the video.

"If you come across these attitudes please don't be a bystander."

The video has been viewed over 240,000 times with TikTok users appalled by how the woman was treated.

"This is why more education is needed, most people know nothing about Tourette's," one user wrote.

"This makes me so mad, especially because I catch this bus and I have tics," another user commented.

"It makes me scared to go out because of people like this."

What is Tourette Syndrome?

Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder characterised by rapid, repetitive and involuntary muscle movements and vocalisations called "tics" and often involves behavioural difficulties.

According to the Tourette Syndrome Association of Australia, the symptoms vary from person to person, with some people having some control over their tics.

"What is often not recognised is that the control which can be exerted, from seconds to hours at a time, only delays more severe outbursts of symptoms," the website says.

"Tics are experienced as a build-up of tension, are irresistible and eventually must be performed. Typically tics increase as a result of tension or stress, and decrease with relaxation or concentration on an absorbing task.

"TS symptoms have long been misconstrued as a sign of behavioural abnormality or "nervous habits", which they are not."

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