Michael DeFilippo’s book,  Getting Personal:  Stories of Life with Tourette Syndrome, is a collection of 22 from-the-heart stories designed to dispel myths and enlighten us all.  If you think uncontrollable twitching and cursing explains Tourette’s in a nutshell, then you are mistaken.

A small percentage of the TS population have coprolalia, the involuntary utterance of obscene or socially inappropriate outbursts which have given the syndrome a degree of notoriety.  More commonly, TS manifests itself  in an assortment of involuntary vocalizations and physical movements.  These “tics” can be throat clearing, grunting, sniffing, snorting, and other sounds.  Motor “tics” may involve blinking, grimacing, jumping, jerking, or other movements or urges.

If you were fortunate to see Hallmark’s presentation, “Front of the Class,” you will recognize one of the contributors, Brad Cohen.  His courageous effort to prove that he could become not only a teacher but an excellent teacher, was both inspiring and instructive.  In Getting Personal, Cohen discusses some of the challenges he overcame and offers words of wisdom encouraging everyone to live a special life that embraces our best possibilities.

There are tender moments in Getting Personal, like the time DeFilippo observed his three-year-old son playfully mimicking one of his father’s tics.  There are also heart-breaking tales of relatives who are critical and unsympathetic.  And there are moments when you want to cheer, like when a substitute teacher ignored sixth grader Kevin Bernhardt’s explanation that he could not control his TS tics.  When she continued to demand that he stop, his whole class stood up for him, and a dozen marched straight to the guidance counselor’s office to defend their friend!

These stories stand as lessons to us all that compassion and acceptance go a long way in building the bonds that make for a strong and successful society.