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Tourette Syndrome Association of Victoria
The TSA office in Blackburn is staffed by volunteers every Thursday between 10-2pm. However messages may be left on voice mail at other times on (03) 9845 2700. All attempts are made to return calls as soon as possible.
Tourette Syndrome Association of Victoria
The Tourette Syndrome Association of Victoria (TSA) is a non profit organisation run entirely by volunteers who assist individuals and families affected by Tourette Syndrome (TS) and its associated disorders.
Members receive a subscription to 'TopicS', an information magazine, free entry to certain functions and access to services. TSA provides support to individual and families with TS through counselling and advocacy; disseminates educational material to health care workers and educators; increases public awareness of TS through main stream media networks; conducts public meetings for members and other interested persons; provides resources and information on TS; organises family outings throughout the year for members and their families.
TSA Northern Support Group
TSA of Victoria conducts a support group meeting for the Northern Suburbs area every 3 months on the last Sunday of the month. These meetings are open to TSA members, their families, friends, teachers everyone is welcome. There is an area for children to play and a café area for parents/adults to chat over a cup of tea or coffee.
What is Tourette Syndrome (TS)?
TS is a neurological disorder which begins between the ages of 2 - 21, and often lasts throughout life. TS is NOT degenerative (it won't kill you).
What causes TS?
TS is a genetic or hereditary condition. In other words it is not uncommon to find that several other members of his/her family have features of TS.
We used to think that TS was an emotional or psychiatric condition, but the more recent theories suggest TS is something that is caused by the chemical abnormality in the nerve cells in parts of the brain and of the messages that take place between nerve cells. It seems that the most likely areas affected in the brain are the basal ganglia, the limbic system and their nerve connections.
It was once thought that TS was a very rare condition. This is not true, and although different researchers have come up with different figures, it would not be far wrong to estimate that as many as one person in every hundred has TS. It is even more common in families who have a member with TS, and the chances of having another person with TS in such a family may be as high as 1 in 15
People from all countries, cultures and walks of life can have TS.
Source TSA Website
The ups and downs of Tourette Syndrome
By Madison Wilson-Thorp (14 yrs)
Tourette Syndrome to me is nothing serious. It is a neurological disorder that makes the human body perform certain uncontrollable twitches. I am not saying that everyone that twitches has Tourette Syndrome because usually the people that have Tourette Syndrome have many different twitches. These twitches are scientifically called tics. Tics can come out verbally or as actions. Ninety percent of the time people with Tourette Syndrome don’t swear or talk their mind but their actions can make people unhappy because they are painful.
A positive thing about Tourette Syndrome would have to be that it gives me a lot of energy. T.S is just a minute problem in my life and now I look at it as a bug on the windshield of my life. The only problem for the bug is that I have windscreen wipers. Corny yes, but this is a perfect explanation of the disorder. People with Tourette Syndrome are usually looked at like weirdoes but in fact we are more normal than people think. I can swim in state competitions, socialize with friends whenever I want, I can play soccer/football, now that I think about it, Tourette Syndrome doesn’t stop me from doing anything!
A negative about Tourette Syndrome is that you will always encounter bullies. No matter where you are, who you are, you are always going to get affected by some sort of bully. Personally these issues haven’t affected me as much as some other people I have known. Bullies don’t just pick on people with Tourette Syndrome, they will usually know who has the disorder because unlike some other disorders this one stands out more than we would want.
To conclude I would like to state that Tourette Syndrome is a good example of people judging a book by its cover. Please for my sake and for the sake of others’ morale don’t judge a book by its cover and if you’re going to bag someone for what they are doing or saying that they can’t help- save it for when they are out of sight because just like you, we don’t fancy being dogged and put into the category of mentals!
Thanks to Madison for sharing his story.
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