Tourette’s on the job: Hidden lives (1/6) Monday 2 April: 21.00–22.00
Five’s human interest documentary strand returns for a third series of surprising real life stories. The six hour-long programmes promise more incredible tales from around the world, focusing on unusual and sometimes alarming personal stories. In tonight’s programme, we meet sufferers of Tourette’s syndrome who have overcome the disability to succeed in the workplace.
Tourette’s syndrome is a diverse condition that can manifest itself in many ways. “It ranges from a couple of mild tics to extreme ‘coprolalia’, which is uttering obscenities,” explains neuroscientist Professor Peter Hollenbeck. Only between ten and 15 percent of Tourette’s sufferers have such a condition; London-born Andrew Joannou is one of these few. He was diagnosed at 13 as having a wide range of conditions associated with Tourette’s, such as coprolalia, the urge to make obscene gestures, and a range of involuntary tics. “I’ve had pretty much everything,” he says.
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