Back in 2015 Leftwing Idiot and I wrote a short relay play called Light Of My Life about the strange relationship I have with the lamp-post I can see from my bedroom window.

We mixed tics with chosen language without identifying which was which.…

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.…

The other day, out of the blue, I got a call from a researcher asking if I’d be up for contributing to a radio segment on balancing work and Tourettes. I couldn’t do it because I was in rehearsals for ‘Not I’, which we are taking to New York in January.…

I woke from my rest this afternoon to the horrible news of a knife attack at London Bridge. I immediately checked in with my friends and family who could’ve been in the area, including King Russell whose work is nearby.

I’m a Londoner, this city is my home, and from as far back as I can remember, terrorism’s been something I’ve been aware of.…

As a child growing up in 80s London, I remember power cuts being a fairly regular occurrence. There was something scary but exciting about them, and I always knew where the candles were, just in case.

In my adult life they’ve been less frequent, and I definitely don’t have any candles on hand.…

I’ve been working in Belgium this week. When I got back to the hotel this evening after a busy day I glanced at my personal emails, and I saw one that totally threw me.

It was from the care agency I use for my essential and personal care requirements, saying:

“There are some updates in relation to the allocation of your weekend care.…

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.…

Monday was my eighth fitiversary, eight years since the day when the seizure-like episodes of intense tics that I call ‘ticcing fits’ became a regular part of my life. They’d been happening on and off for months, even years, but I woke up one morning in October 2011 having one, and from then on, they started happening very regularly.…

When Monkey the cat first moved in he was understandably a bit nervous of my wheelchair, so much so that I teased Chopin about having an ableist cat. Since then he’s got used to the chair and in fact he’s thoroughly embraced disability culture.…

Over the last fifteen years or so I’ve read quite a few research articles on Tourettes, many of them focused on the effectiveness of various treatments. Recently we were contacted by a researcher with a very different area of interest and it felt to me like an exciting and intriguing area of investigation.…