Thursday, November 10, 2011

The Nature of My Peers and Teachers to be Understanding about Tourettes

A blood test is a great way to start the day, don't you think? That's how I started off my day today. We're trying to get to the bottom of what is making me so darn tired during the day so I got a blood test early this morning to check for over-medication, anemia, or low blood sugar. I've gotten my blood drawn quite a few times before and I'd have to say that they aren't all that bad. They're better than a shot! Earlier this year I donated some of my blood to a Tourette's Syndrome genetics study, which was fun! It was good to feel like I was possibly helping to find a cure or at least to locate the gene of TS. Anyway my blood test wasn't all that bad this morning, and hopefully when the results get back i'll have some explanation for my extreme fatigue other than the fact that I just exhaust myself from ticcing. I missed first period, but that was fine. I only missed photography and I had already finished my photo assignment for the week anyway.

Later in the day I stopped by the learning specialists office to see how the meeting with Mr.Texas went. Mr. Texas basically explained to both of them that he was aware of my situation and wasn't really penalizing me for class participation. The C+ was factored into the grade, but untimely he made it so that the grade didn't effect my overall grade all that much. The learning specialist told me that Mr. Texas really adores me and was on my side completely and understood.  He wished I would participate in class more, but only because he thought the entire class could benefit from what I had to say. He also apparently said that I was an incredibly talented writer. I was very glad to hear all this and was glad to hear that he wasn't disregarding my anxiety disorder when factoring my grade. The learning specialist updated my action plan so that it specifically mentioned in more detail my difficulty with participating in class due to my anxiety disorder so as to avoid any kind of confusion in the future. I have a two new teachers next trimester, which starts Tuesday, so the learning specialist said we may have to educate them.

I felt very lucky today to go to the school that I do. The teachers all have my back and are there to help and support me even and especially if I may not be a typical student. I felt doubly lucky when I had an encounter with a guy in  my french class today. We had to switch seats for an activity and I found myself sitting behind someone new. Steam Punk was still sitting next to me though, which always helps. I was making my Pokemon noises and the guy sitting in front of me turned around and said "are you okay, you're making a lot of noise" I told him I was fine and that I just have Tourette's. At first he didn't respond at all, and thought about it for a minute. Then just when I thought the encounter was over he turned back around to me and said "I didn't know that. I feel like a real jerk now. I've asked you a lot of questions about it". This was not the first time this particular guy has commented on my tics, but I really didn't think I was going to get this kind of reaction out of him. I thought he was just not going to care truthfully, but the way he responded and the tone in which he said it really let me know that he did feel bad. I didn't want him to feel bad. People ask me questions all the time before they know I have Tourettes, so I told him really not to worry about it at all and that seemed to be enough. Every single person my age (age 15 and up) that I have told about my TS has been incredibly understanding and seemed to really and honestly feel bad if they had asked me questions about it before. This makes me wonder. Why are people so understanding with me? Why do I never get that off beat comment that is slightly rude and inconsiderate? Is it because of where I live? Or is it because of the people in my school? Or is it because I handle telling others particularly well? Or is it because Marc Elliot came to talk to everyone at my school and they really get it? I wish I knew the answer, but something tells me it's not one of these things. I think it's a combination of them all right now. Anyway, I'm just so glad that others are so accepting and understanding. It makes all the difference.

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