I’ve always loved drawing – since childhood it’s been a key part of how I think and make sense of the world.

Having Tourettes hasn’t always made this easy. As a child my obsessive and impulsive tendencies meant that if I made even a tiny mistake I’d have to start again, or sometimes I’d impulsively destroy my work.…

Over the last decade, just existing as a Disabled Person has felt like a political act. Everything I do is directly affected by the political decisions of people who’ve never met me. There’s the social care support that means I can get washed and dressed in the morning, the Access to Work – support that’s enabled me to continue doing the job I love, the NHS-prescribed wheelchair that means I can move freely, and the medication and catheters that help me manage my pain and sleep at night.…

I’ve tried to manage my tics a number of different ways over the years and one of the most effective for me has been through practical solutions and interventions that make life easier and safer.

Several years ago I did a round-up of all these interventions, and I often share it with others who might find it useful.…

I’ve written a lot about my love of wheelchairs and what an important role they play in my life.

There have been times when my chair’s been broken or I haven’t had the right equipment, and as a result, my mood and wellbeing have been seriously affected. …

I’d had a really disrupted night. My pain level was exceptionally high and didn’t respond to any of the things that usually help, so I’d been awake since the early hours desperately trying to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep.…

For the last few years I’ve been struggling with feeling sick a lot and there was a long period when I used be sick every time I ate anything. A few months ago a dietician at my local hospital put me on a very restricted diet to try and work out whether there are particular foods that are causing the problem.…

Last month I wrote excitedly about my new legs, not my actual legs but the new shock-absorbing frog legs that NHS wheelchair services were testing on my chair.

They’re brilliant and make for a much more comfortable ride, and since they’ve been fitted I’ve had fewer spikes in pain too.…

My two year old niece Bean looked at my feet and said:

“No, Aunty Touretteshero, not needed.”

She was right of course; I didn’t really need to be wearing flippers in the house, though as a wheelchair user I could do this without any great inconvenience.…

I’ve always been a big fan of bouncing.

Jumping up and down on the spot was something I did from a very early age and it was probably a very early motor tic.

Despite having pretty rubbish coordination when it came to walking, I was fairly nifty on a space hopper and an accomplished pogo sticker by the age of nine.…

I’ve written a few posts about my on-going bladder issues and about how wearing pull up incontinence pads helps me manage this and feel more confident.

There’s one slight issue though. It’s not their bulkiness or the fact that some types aren’t as breathable as I’d like.…