I still remember the first time I felt the urge. It was an aching compulsion that ran from my toes to my spine. It was a craving in my body that needed to be satisfied, but with what? The yearning ache continued to grow and grow until finally my entire body jerked violently in a shaking manner, and just like that the urge vanished. The compulsion soon returned, but this time my body knew what to do. I once again permitted my body to takeover, allowing it to twitch and shake aggressively until the urge came to an end. This “urge” I speak of is just a sneak peak of how it feels to live with Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological condition that is associated with repetitive movements and vocal sounds, which for me, is also accompanied by obssesive-compulsive disorder and anxiety. Through the struggle of living with these conditions I have always looked to Maya Angelou’s words "If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” for comfort. Although I can not rid of my Tourette’s Syndrome, I can change the way I perceive it and maintain a positive attitude no matter what challenges the condition brings my way.
Through living with Tourette’s Syndrome, I have come to realize that there is a major lack of understanding and acceptance for this condition. Majority of people perceive Tourette’s Syndrome as a condition in which one simply shouts curse words. Coprolalia, the actual term for this condition of involuntary cursing is exhibited in only 10% of Tourette’s patients. Due to the this lack of acceptance, I have yet to be open about my experience with Tourette’s Syndrome. The number of people that actually know I live with the condition could be counted on two hands, and even those who do k...
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...ept me hid away from the world; and one that I would not wish upon even my worst enemy, it has also proven to be a huge blessing in my life. Having Tourette’s syndrome has helped cross my paths with so many amazing people and most importantly, has made me who I am today. Despite the hardship of this neurological order, I have become a stronger, more appreciative, and more accepting person because of it. Although I do not always particularly enjoy twitching uncontrollably, I still hang on to Maya Angelou’s words, "If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” to get me through my day to day struggles. Although I can not and will never be able to change how I was made, I have changed my perception of Tourette’s syndrome and myself, knowing that I am a better person, not in spite of my challenges, but because of them
After discussing the use of swear words amongst Tourette’s patients she begins to discuss the physiological aspects of swearing. She speaks on “higher order linguistic circuits are tapped, to contrive the content of curse. The brain’s impulse control center struggles to short-circuit the collusion between limbic-system urge and the neocortical craft, and it may succeed for a time.” (772). While this is interesting to look at the chemical and physiological processes carried out by the human brain in the urge to swear she does not finish she thought process. She ineffectively ends the article with “Yet the urge still mounts, until at last the speech pathways fire, the verboten is spoken and archaic and refined brains alike must shoulder the blame.” (772). This is in no way a conclusion to the article and is likely to leave the readers with an uneasy feeling of confusion.
Tourette’s syndrome is a disorder where the affected individual will consistently exhibit “tics”. In the majority of cases these ticks are minor in character, it may just be the urge to blink, or make certain facial gestures. Less than 15% of individuals exhibit coprolalia, which is the unwarranted exclamations of profanities or other socially forbidden remarks. Perhaps those in our generation who are aware of Tourette’s syndrome have learned its symptoms through pop culture, which has glamorized (to some extent) the more severe cases of Tourette’s syndrome in YouTube videos or the animated satire of South Park. Most with Tourette’s syndrome have been diagnosed 5-8 years in childhood and experience the waning of the number and severity of tics by the time the graduate high school. For the most part, Tourette’s syndrome alone will not prevent an individual from success in the institutions of society, as it doesn’t affect the intelligence or capability of individuals. These cases, often called pure TS cases, are usually the exception. More often than not, sufferers of Tourette’s syndrome are more limited socially by common comorbid conditions like obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.
In Lucky Man: A Memoir by Michael J. Fox, Fox uses his naturally comedic perspective to show the reader how he has dealt with Parkinson’s Disease in a positive light. Fox has shown the reader the challenges that come with such a disease and the fact that Fox has done so much in such a short period of time inspires me. The goal of COSI 109 is to help students better understand communication disorders and this book most certainly accomplishes that.
Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome, commonly known as “Tourette syndrome,” “Tourette’s,” or simply “TS,” is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder producing sudden, repetitive movements and sounds, known as “tics,” which are beyond an individual’s control. The condition is named after French physician Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who first published an account of its symptoms in the 1880s (Felling & Singer, 2011, p. 12387). Once considered a rare disorder, Tourette syndrome is currently estimated to occur in mild to severe forms in as much as 2% of the population (Bohlhalter et al., 2006, p. 2029). Today, Tourette syndrome affects the lives of millions of people around the world – including me! What causes this complex disorder and its notorious symptoms?
In an interview with Computerworld, author and futurist Ray Kurzweil said that anyone alive -come 2040 or 2050 could be close to immortal. The quickening advance of nanotechnology means that the human condition will shift into more of a collaboration of man and machine, as nanobots flow through human blood streams and eventually even replace biological blood, he added. Let me know!
After finishing this book I realized that this is somewhat true. This is a disease that has been kept a secret, and those that suffer from it keep it a hidden. It is embarrassing and those that suffer from this wish not to be identified. It has become a ritual to the person; they feel if they admit that they suffer from this that they will be labeled as “crazy'; when if fact they are not. One of our family members may have it or friends, we never know, and that’s the amazing thing because we might be able to help them but they are not willing to be open about it.
It is difficult to conceive of two words more important to human existence than life and death. Certainly all of us know these words intimately, and have a deep understanding of their meaning. Life and death have been principal topics of discussion in political debate and popular dialog for decades. Having a clear understanding of life and death is essential to any discussion on abortion, embryonic stem cell research, end-of-life care, and organ donation. Yet despite the seemingly obvious nature of these words and their clearly obvious importance to our existence, it turns out that life and death are somehow difficult to define.
America the Country of the people, the land of the free where everyone is entitled rights and responsibilities that are vital in order to preserve their nations democratic government. The freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, Respect the rights, beliefs, and opinions of others, and also the freedom to express oneself. Those are just to name a few. Each of these has an importance in their government in order to maintain a vigorous nation.
It is encouraging that some people have beaten the brain disorder. Others manage to control its debilitating symptoms and independently function in society.
The term bioethics refers to the moral principles used when one is making a decision while in the healthcare field. It is the moral compass that humans use to decide what is the right thing to do versus the wrong thing to do when faced with an ethical dilemma. These decisions may be based on principles, reasoning, personal beliefs, emotions, natural science, or other influential factors.
“What is the meaning of life?” This question is something that likely everyone has at least pondered. There is an abundance of theories about what the meaning of life is. Non- philosophers tend to consider it to be life’s greatest question. Philosophers, however, tend to stray from the question, as they believe that it is either not a clear enough question to be answered, or that it simply does not have an answer at all (Seachris). The meaning of life is different for everyone. Everyone has both a specific and a general purpose in life, given to them at the beginning of time by God, and the meaning of life is to fulfill those purposes. The specific purpose is personalized to each individual, and each person is liable to have multiple specific
As people age they tend to reminisce about their lives when talking to family members, for an older adult a life revive can be a way to help promote better mental health (Moody & Sasser, 2015). Life reviews may not always be easy for the person who it is being written about, not all older adults had a life that they want to relive. A life review can be a gift to both the older adult and their family due to it can help preserve memories that are an important part of the family’s history. Many therapists find a life review helpful for the person to deal with things that may have happened in their past allowing them to open up about them and work through them. A life review for the family is also a way for them to preserve memories of a love
From the start of time, life and death have been the only two components living organisms can rely on. Every living organism from the coral in the sea to a human undergoes birth, a specialized life cycle and eventually death. Life is such a broad term with so many philosophical attachments from religion to evolution. Simply put, life is the ability to grow and change. Life separates plants and animals from things like water and rocks. For this paper I will focus on the different stages of human life, death and how the advancements in technology and medicine have directly affected both.
The distinction between life and death largely relies on the current definitions of life and death. Illogically, there seems to be less disagreement about the definition of death, while the definition of life remains controversial. In a legally perfect world, the factors considered for declaration of death would be the same factors considered to define life, however, that does not appear to be the case. While the current definitions of death are fairly consistent but not free of conflict, the definition of life remains controversial.
Should the aim of law be primarily focused on the protection of individual liberty or, instead, the normative goals aimed at the good of the society? The question of law and morality is difficult mainly because it needs to be addressed with current social conditions that exist, the morals and values that the particular society has. In general, the laws in any society should not only be focused on regulations, but it should also protect individual’s liberty. Devlin debate was based on deciding whether law should enforce morality. He debated about what the law ought to be and whether morality should be enforced by law to form a good society. Furthermore, John Stewart Mill did not write specifically on law and morality. His argument constituted mainly on the anti-enforcers side of law and morality because he believed in individual liberty. John Stuart Mill's assertion that the only justification for limiting one person's liberty is to prevent harm to another