My article in Campus Activities Magazine

Here’s the link to the full actual article:

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/4d2269e3#/4d2269e3/16

Today, I was at one of them four about 5 hours.  Within that time I had about four Tourette encounters with strangers.  I had one man accuse me of faking my TS and even said verbatim “Maybe you can get away with that in the Midwest, but you can’t get away with that in Manhattan.”  How ironic, since I’m from St. Louis.   

On top of that, I had a man that was very offended by me saying the word “faggot.”  He said, “Do you really have to say the f word.”  The conversation that ensued was civil and educational.  I think he walked away truly understanding the full scope TS.  

I always, sit near the back of the store to disturb the least amount of people, so I was located right near the barista stand where all of the workers were.  Through out the day they witnessed these little brawls.  Once the store died down, I ended up having quite the “bonding” session with these starbuck workers whom all happened to be girls.  They elaborated on how awful they thought it was that people were giving me such a hard time.  To me, it was just another day but to people who are not with me all the time it can be a bit disheartening to watch.  After our conversation, one the workers named Natalie gave me a special gift from all the girls:  a starbucks paper cup that says “I love Marc.”  

Just another day in the life of Marc Elliot at Starbucks!

 Obviously, one of the worst parts is when I have to sit next to someone on a plane who might be offended by something that I tic.  Even though some people are very understanding, it kills me that I have to tic something so offensive for the whole duration of a flight.    To ameliorate the sting of my tics, I always make an announcement to all the people on a flight that sit near me.

 On a recent flight, after I made my announcement I looked up to see that my seat was located next to an Asian couple.  Immediately, I started to tic slurs for Asians.  I sat down and continued to try to explain my disorder to these two individuals.  Although the situation was not hostile, it was incredibly uncomfortable especially since the man and woman switched sits with each other so the man was now sitting next to me. 

 Within 30 seconds of me sitting down, out of nowhere a flight attendant came over and asked in the most sincere and kind way for the couple to get up and follow him to new seats.  He was an angel in the sky!  I’ve been on countless flights with incredibly understanding flight attendants, but no one had ever exhibited this sort of understanding of my disorder and social intelligence.   His professionalism and execution was beyond anything I had experienced on a flight.   The best part of it all is that no one sat next to me for the whole flight!  Unfortunately, I lost his information but I think his name was Jesse!  

Thanks a lot Jesse for making my life easier!

This “tic” of mine is really quite the understatement for my life, haha. Sadly, while in high school this tic somehow became incorporated into my lexicon of words. It is such an embarrassing tic that I made sure to add it as one of the tics that audience members have to utter while I present. 

Right before I moved to NYC I went super OCD and purged tons of stuff in my life.   During the process, I came across a bunch of letters from a middle school class that had written me letters in response to my post-dispatch article that came out while I was a junior in high school. Due to partly my OCD again and my belief that it is never to late to say thank you, I tried to find the teacher online to reconnect with her. To my surprise, a few days later this teacher called me where I had a chance to thank her seven years later for having her class write me. During our conversation it came up that she had actually heard me speak at the MNEA conference and had to tic during my presentation “I have poop coming out of my anus.” She told me how she will never forget that day. She remembers vividly the sweating and anxiety with the shear thought and eventually act of having to say that phrase for one second during my speech. As I tell people in my speech, “Although you might only have to  tic for a single moment during my presentation, this is something that I have been doing for 19 years of my life.”

Lesson of the day: it’s never to late to say thank you!

Hola, me llamo Marc Elliot. Mi espanol es muy malo, pero tengo una condicion medico se llama Tourettes syndromo. Tengo, ruido de mi boca y tambien es involunatrio. Gracias para entender.   

I think this translates to:  Hi my name is Marc Elliot.  My Spanish is bad, BUT I have a medical condition called Tourette’s syndrome.  I have noise coming from my mouth and it’s involuntary.  Thanks for being understanding.

Since most of the time people just nod their head, I assume I’m saying the right thing!  When I was in high school I asked my Spanish teacher Senora Roman to help translate my normal “Tourette’s intro speech” into Spanish before I went on my senior spring break trip.  I’m so glad I did, because no matter how little Spanish I know now, I’ll keep that phrase with me forever and people will actually think I’m awesome at speaking Spanish!  Thanks Senora Roman.

haha I should clarify.  I had my first speaking engagement at a corporation – - BIG DIFFERENCE.  Today, I had the privilege of speaking at Booz Allen Hamilton, which is a huge consulting for government.  The way this event actually came about is through a wonderful guy and friend named Alex Semertzides.  Alex knew about my speaking and thought I would be an incredible addition to their Diversity Initiative at BAH.   Before I knew it, I was booking a flight to D.C. to deliver my first speech to a corporation.    

I had the chance to speak to about 40 members and who knows how many on webcast (BAH streamed it online so anyone in the company could wathc).  On top of that, before the speech an employee for BAH brought her daughter to the presentation who also has Tourette’s syndrome.  What a special moment it was for both of us, because I was the first person she had ever met with Tourette’s syndrome.   

Being my first corporate engagement I was obviously a bit nervous, but in the end the engagement went incredibly well.  By changing my message a bit to incorporate tolerance in the workforce, I definitely have created a whole new avenue in which I can propel my message.  Look out corporations, Marc Elliot is looking for a job!

A huge thanks to Alex Semertzides, Melanie Porter, and Laura Treat Bulebush for making this event such a success!

http://www.studlife.com/news/greek-life-brings-alumnus-back-to-speak-on-diversity-tolerance-1.1727542

I want to thank the GLO so much for making this event possible!

Back at my alma mater!

Here is a link to an article that was published in the Daily Herald.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=279394

Me in the gym speaking to almost 1500 students at Carmel Catholic. A huge thanks to the reporter from the Daily Herald for taking this incredible picture!

As I concluded with my final words,  all of a sudden the students at the Suffield Academy began to stand at their feet appluading.  Never before in my life had I received a standing ovation.  The feeling was beyond exhilaurating; it was in short beyond humbling.  The students at the Suffield Academy validated me as speaker and only solidified my passion to continue speaking.  It was after this engagement that I decided to take an additional year-off to try to spread my message of tolerance.  Thank you so much all the students at the Suffield Academy.

A huge thanks goes out to Charlie Cahn for making this event happen!

A huge thanks goes out to Carol Hotchkiss for making this event happen!

Meeting some students at the Conserve School

Just a snippet of this beautiful school

It's show time!