At the beginning of the year Bunny, my friend and regular support worker, set off for Mexico and Columbia for six months. I think about her often and wonder how she’s getting on, particularly on the days she used to support me.…

A few weeks ago I wrote about the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the disability benefit that’s due to start replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) from April.

There are many big concerns about PIP, which appears to be being brought in with the main aim of cutting support completely for at least 500,000 disabled people and reducing the level of help for hundreds of thousands more.…

A few months ago I went to get measured for a new pair of super-strong orthotic boots that’ll help protect me from my ankle-turning tics.

I’ve already had several pairs of specially reinforced boots, but they’ve always been ordered ready-made from medical catalogues and they haven’t gone as high up my leg as I need.…

Amongst the post I collected on my way in after work this evening there was a small oblong, package for Poppy – a cardboard envelope wrapped in plastic. The detail of the packaging is relevant only because it was what my tics chose to focus on and go bonkers about.…

I’ve described before how my tics make me overreact if I feel any heightened emotion, whether it’s anger, sadness, happiness or excitement.

This evening I was hanging out with Fran and I ticced: “What do you get when you cross a dog and a dick – a dickdog!”…

Tourettes has been in the media spotlight today, with features on BBC Breakfast, Inside Out West Midlands and in the Daily Telegraph.

The focus of these stories is a study being carried out at the University of Nottingham, where researchers are building maps of the brains of young people, with and without Tourettes.…

In just under two weeks time Poppy’s moving out of the castle and into a new house with Zoë and two other friends. Not having a flatmate will mean making some adjustments to my routine, and one big change will be that I’ll be here on my own for a lot more time.…

My friend Keir has cropped up in this blog many times, sometimes when he’s been helping me out or when we’ve been dancing or when he’s produced amazing tic-inspired art for our website. Last night he managed all three in one excellent evening.…

I haven’t seen Laura for weeks. I think this is one of the longest periods we’ve gone without meeting up in our fifteen years of friendship. A number of factors have conspired to keep us apart – my operation, the recent birth of Laura’s son Leo, and the weather.…

Everywhere I go my red bag goes too. It’s my emergency bag and contains everything I need when I have a ‘ticcing fit‘. One of the things in contains is a plastic wallet for the sheets my support workers use to record the time my fits occur and how long they last.…