"I'm not being rude, I'd want somebody normal": Adolescents' Perception of their Peers with Tourette's Syndrome: an Exploratory Study.
Teens pity peers with Tourette’s but dodge them unless they share fun tasks together.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team talked with teens who do not have Tourette’s.
They asked how these teens view classmates who blink, grunt, or jerk.
The talks were recorded and coded for themes like fear or pity.
What they found
Most teens felt sorry for the peer but still kept distance.
They feared “social contamination” — looking odd by association.
Pity did not lead to friendship; it led to polite avoidance.
How this fits with other research
Schwab (2017) shows the fix: voluntary joint activities, not just shared desks, shift attitudes.
Nicholson et al. (2017) agree — elementary kids already judge exclusion as wrong, so the gap widens by high school.
Harnum et al. (2007) add that younger children are even harsher than adults, proving attitudes must be tackled early and actively.
Why it matters
Your class may look inclusive, yet teens with Tourette’s still eat alone.
Pair students in chosen projects like robotics or drama clubs — not forced seating charts.
Add a short script that explains tics are neurologic, not rude.
These two steps turn pity into partnership and cut the fear of “catching” the difference.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a highly stigmatised condition, and typically developing adolescents' motives and reasons for excluding individuals with TS have not been examined. The aim of the study was to understand how TS is conceptualised by adolescents and explore how individuals with TS are perceived by their typically developing peers. Free text writing and focus groups were used to elicit the views of twenty-two year ten students from a secondary school in South East England. Grounded theory was used to develop an analytical framework. Participants' understanding about the condition was construed from misconceptions, unfamiliarity and unanswered questions. Adolescents who conceived TS as a condition beyond the individual's control perceived their peers as being deprived of agency and strength and as straying from the boundaries of normalcy. People with TS were viewed as individuals deserving pity, and in need of support. Although participants maintained they had feelings of social politeness towards those with TS, they would avoid initiating meaningful social relationships with them due to fear of 'social contamination'. Intergroup anxiety would also inhibit a close degree of social contact. Participants that viewed those with TS as responsible for their condition expressed a plenary desire for social distance. However, these behavioural intentions were not limited to adolescents that elicited inferences of responsibility to people with TS, indicating that attributional models of stigmatisation may be of secondary importance in the case of TS. Implications for interventions to improve school belonging among youth with TS are discussed.
Journal of developmental and physical disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1080/j.1440-1614.2006.01745.x