The Beauties & Sorrows of Tourette’s

How this young man learned to coexist in peace with his condition, and adapted well into the environment socially, translated …

On the Track, Zheng-Yu is Just a Runner, without Any Labels………

The Life-Saving Prescription of Tourette’s

Before I left, he’d said to me, genuinely, “I hope you get better, I can’t say for anything else, but, I’ll vouch for running, if you’re willing to work on it, you will, improve…” as he’d stated, he’d picked up the cane on his right, adjusted the frames, propped up his body, said goodbye to me, and told his last-year high school son, Zheng-Yu to see me off to the bus station.

As we waited for the bus, Zheng-Yu recited to me the stations that I will be passing later, like he was reciting from a text.  I’d recalled to how my friend first introduced me to this visually impaired, Tourette’s runner to me, he’d added, “He has great memory”, naturally, my friend was, right.

The reason why Zheng-Yu started running was because Tourette’s Syndrome couldn’t be completely cured from the medications, the only way to alleviate the symptoms of his Tourette’s is to find an alternative outlet for the excess energies; and so, his father who’d cherished him so worked really hard, to find this measure, to save his life.  Later on, on the competitive sports in his son’s school, he’d found that his son was outstanding: although he wasn’t as fast in the sprints as some other students, but, on the marathons, he’d, slowly, passed the other competitors one by one, his joys went beyond verbal expressions.  Because his son had a narrowed field of vision, he couldn’t play the sports with the other students, and running, you only need to keep your eye on the front, and so, he’d encouraged his son to conquer his Tourette’s Syndrome with running.

Before his dad signed Zheng-Yu up for his first marathon even, he’d gone to the sports shops to buy the equipment, back then, neither father nor son knew about “visually impaired running events”.  On the day of the competition, as the sponsors learned of his handicap, and told the organization of his need, and just so happens, there was an accompanying runner, that was how he got to compete.  Before they reached the finish lines, the accompanying runner couldn’t catch up to Zheng-Yu, so, he’d let go of his hand and let him run to the finishing lines.

That time, he’d done great, since, his father had been working hard, to find the routes for him to run on, planned out the time and the place, with the son running up front, and him, on his motorcycle, riding behind him, an alternative sort of accompaniment.

His dad took out photos of Zheng-Yu running the mountain passes, it was during the summer, the sun shone through the branches, made the pavement golden, he ran to the right, the tree became like a protective umbrella, blocked out the scorching sun, so he could run ‘til his heart’s content.

I can’t forget how Zheng-Yu showed me his countless trophies, the pride that shone from his face, he was gloating a bit, but very shyly, he’d smiled in a very controlled manner.

His dad said in a heartfelt manner, “I think this was the fairest part, because so long as he worked hard, he’ll make the best times.”  I’d nodded repeatedly in agreement, couldn’t agree more.  On the runway, Zheng-Yu is a runner, without any labels, the photos were classified by the dates, with the times, showing his progresses.

A Most-Experienced Wisdom, Beyond His Age

As I was flipping through the album, a photo of his whole family hiking up to the northern peak of Hehuan Mountain fell out, that was when I’d learned, that his parents and he all loved hiking the taller mountains.  Hiking on the mountains was no easy task for the family, especially the norther peaks of Hehuan Mountain, it was a rougher terrain, with the uneven steps, and so, his dad hired two mountain guides to help him; as they hiked up, and met up with the bigger height differences, the son would give the dad a pull and the dad would help his son watch for the situations on the roads, and mom held hand with him, the family worked together, to conquer peak after peak after peak, and, they’d shared the common goal, of conquering the tallest mountain here, the “Jade Mountain”.

I guess, that his parents’ encouraging Zheng-Yu to get involved in these activities outdoor, is to probably help reduce the negative impacts from his symptoms.  The symptoms of Tourette’s would get better as the person ages, but not for Zheng-Yu: he’d made burping sounds from time to time, blinked, nodded his head, shrugged his shoulders…………all of these movements connected together, his father worried that it may cause people around him to feel distracted, and even, misunderstandings.  As we carried on in conversations, I’d found, that he had more worries than the ordinary parents.

One day a year later, we’d bumped into each other in the MRT stations.  Zheng-Yu just got out of the theatre with friends from a movie, they’re headed to the volunteer training for the International Collegiate League, we were going the same directions, we’d travelled together for a bit.

I’d carefully asked him, “Do you make the tics in the theatres?”, after I’d asked, I’d felt ashamed, and started apologizing to him.  He’d said, “It’s okay, I’m willing to talk about it.  Actually, I can control it, like I’d gone to the concerts with mom, I knew those places we’re supposed to be quiet, and I’d, hold it in.”

He had two traits that raises concerns for the community, he’s visually impaired, with Tourette’s, he’d used his extremely mature state of mind and explained, how it’s a gift from God, especially his Tourette’s, “it’s evened out my sight impairments”.  He’d made the example of doing his homework, it’d taken him a lot of time, due to his sight problems, but, Tourette’s gave him the energies he’d needed, it felt, that these two impairments had, balanced each other out on him.

He’d added one more thing, like he was, defending his own condition, “Tourette’s is amazing, as I’d gone to the tribes to help out the children, everybody was hollering about how tired they were, I’d not felt it one bit, and I’d, worked until the last moment, and took my break!”

I’d taken the opportunity to ask him about how he got along with his classmate.  He said, the classmates would get into conflict with him because they didn’t understand his condition when he was younger, but now, he’d stopped for a bit, then, jokingly told, the classmates all passed the rebellious period, “Started becoming adults, and were willing, to learn to get along with people different than they are, they’re not bad anymore………”

Suddenly, I was reminded of how his father worried about how he would be impacted by his peers’ negative attitudes in a group, and it seemed, that his worries were, excessive.

So, this kid had, adjusted and adapted well with his surrounding environment with his Tourette’s syndrome, and this just showed, how a disability doesn’t need to be negative, that it can have, positive outcomes too, if you are willing, to adjust your mind on it.