Tourette’s, Harm & Holding Two Truths at Once

I don’t have coprolalia. I don’t shout slurs or swear involuntarily, but I do have Tourette’s.

Mine shows up in different ways. Repeated movements. Vocal tics. Strange sounds. At one point, if someone said a certain word, my brain would immediately respond by singing the McDonald’s theme tune. As a vegan, I was mortified every time it happened.

That’s the thing about Tourette’s.It is neurological, It is not behavioural. It is not chosen.It is a misfiring of signals in the brain that we do not control, and it is exhausting (and often very painful). Tics are not “quirky”. They are physically draining. They can be painful and they spike under stress. They often flare in quiet moments when adrenaline drops and the brain suddenly releases what it has been suppressing.So when I hear people say, “He only said it when it was quiet,” I understand exactly how that can happen. Silence can be the loudest trigger.

I cannot imagine how frightening it must be to live with coprolalia, knowing your brain could produce something deeply offensive without your consent.Tourette’s is neurological, It is not deliberate,It is not attention seeking and It is definatley not controllable.

At the same time, the word used at the BAFTAs is a racial slur. It carries a lot of weight, history, trauma and violence. Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo are absolutely entitled to feel hurt. No one gets to dismiss that or tell them otherwise .Both things can be true at once.

The tic was involuntary but the impact of that Slur was real.

It was right that apologies were made. Harm, even when unintended, still deserves acknowledgement.Accountability is not about intent alone, it is about impact.At the same time, education matters. Tourette’s is a neurological disability, not a moral failing. If we expect accountability, we must also be willing to understand the conditions involved.Both are necessary.

Attacking a disabled person for something neurological is ableism and Silencing Black voices when they express hurt is racism.

Nuance matters. We can defend disability without excusing harm and we can acknowledge harm without attacking disability. Compassion is not a limited resource.