The daily abuse I was subjected to wasn’t because of the color of my skin, or the language I spoke, but it was because of the seizure-like body jerks, the unusually fast eye blinks, the neck twists and shoulder jerks, the barks, and many, many other symptoms of the neurological condition called Tourette Syndrome. I went to school in Bayside, Queens in the early 1990s. Kids were cruel in junior high and my condition was taunted and mocked daily by kids of all colors, race and backgrounds.
I was the freak of the school.
I was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome with co-occurring symptoms — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder — at age 12. I was put on medication for eight years straight. The anti-psychotic medicine I took, meant to suppress my symptoms, left me with permanent side effects, such as manic episodes and mood disorders. And throughout the medicating timeframe I have experienced paranoia and hallucination.
At one point I wanted to end my own life.
My Tourette's syndrome experience evolved in stages. At one stage of my Tourette Syndrome experience, I have had the “signature” Tourette’s symptom called Coprolalia, which is the behavior involving repetitive usage of profane and obscene language. Because the uncontrollable behavior of outbursting expletives seems to be the most shocking of all Tourette’s symptoms, this type of behavior became the stigmatic Tourette’s stereotype. I have struggled hard to control my own outbursts and it took me more than a decade to use behavior modification methods to train my brain to turn the impulse of the outbursting profanity into a different type of action, like a knee jerk or making a noise.
According to Senator Cruz’s biography online, he graduated from Princeton as well as Harvard Law. Whether you like him or not, Cruz could be an inspiring figure for a child out there who aspires to become a future leader. Unfortunately he is sending the wrong message to the future leaders of America. Despite his high position of power and privilege, not only did he choose to participate in a social media shouting match with a celebrity, but out of all the words in the English Language he just had to pick a term associated with a disability and use this term to politicize his own political opinion.
There is nothing political about the word Tourette.
Cruz intentionally picked that word because, despite that the first recorded Tourette Syndrome case was back in 1825, almost 200 years later Tourette is still a mysterious taboo and the sheer mentioning of the term brings up imagery of some uncivilized wild crazy person who uncontrollably outbursts profanity.
Tourette Syndrome as a condition has no limits in gender, race, cultural or political boundaries. According to 2020 data, 1 to 10 in every 1,000 children could have such an occurrence.
As an Asian-American living in a nation that hasn’t yet brought equality to everyone, representation matters.
As a person living in America managing a Tourette’s lifestyle, representation matters too. As an elected official, what Senator Cruz should engage in in the realm of Tourette Syndrome and other disabilities is to work on legislation to improve research and help make healthcare easy and affordable for everyone.