A ST HELENS primary school held a Tourette's Awareness day this week, seeking to remove the stigma associated with the condition.
On Thursday, May 19, pupils at St Anne's Primary School in Sutton dressed up in green and were educated on the condition as part of Tourette's Awareness Month.
St Anne's partnered with Sutton-based mum Emma McNally, who is CEO of national charity Tourette's Action, to organise the event.
Emma, whose son was diagnosed with Tourette's aged nine and used to go to St Anne's, has relentlessly campaigned to increase funding support for the syndrome.
Her campaigning, which was brought into a Parliamentary debate by St Helens North MP Conor McGinn earlier this year, began campaigning after a retiring Alder Hey neurologist left their family without any local specialist care.
From May 15 - June 15, Tourette's Action are seeking support from people, schools, and businesses to spread their message, raise awareness of the condition, and create a culture of acceptance.
Tourette's affects around 1 in 100 school children and while people commonly associate the condition with swearing or profane outbursts, this only affects around 10%-20% of those diagnosed with the syndrome.
More commonly, people with Tourette's have to deal with 'vocal tics', such as words or involuntary noises, and 'motor tics' which are involuntary movements that can affect any part of the body.
Tics often cause extreme pain and frustration to those affected as they try to suppress them, in addition to common feelings of anxiety and social exclusion as a result of them.
CEO of Tourettes Action, Emma McNally, said: "It’s shocking that a condition so prevalent is still so badly misunderstood. More than 300,000 people in the UK are known to have Tourette’s, but that number is probably much, much higher.
"We want to use Tourette’s Awareness Month to help raise awareness of this condition, and help to remove the stigma. With awareness, comes acceptance, and this is a key part of our work – enabling people who live with Tourette’s to be fully included in society."
Mrs Crolla, Head teacher at St Anne’s Catholic Primary, added: "We are proud to support Tourette’s Action to help raise awareness of Tourette’s.
"Thank you to our parents and children for working with alongside us to support this very important cause."
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