Catalogue Number
NMLH.2024.38.1
Object Name
book
Title
'Welcome to Biscuit Land - A Year in the Life of Tourettes Hero'
People
Jess Thom, Tourettes Hero
Description
A mostly yellow book comprised of a photo of Tourettes Hero (a white woman in a shiny blue and white mask and costume) on a fairground ride, with the book title and author details superimposed over it.
Tourettes Hero is a superhero alter ego of the artist, writer and activist, Jess Thom. This book follows Jess over a year to show the full range of her lived experiences. It is called 'Welcome to Biscuitland' because saying 'biscuit' is Jess' most common tic - she estimates she says it approximately sixteen times a minute, or six million times a year, involuntarily. Tourettes Hero was 'born' in 2010, as a way to "increase awareness of Tourettes and its challenges without self-pity or mockery", to promote social inclusion of young people with Tourettes in events for children focused around play, and to "take ownership of the laughter associated with Tourettes in order to provide a genuinely funny cultural alternative." This is to combat people without Tourettes using tics as a source of comedy, often through stereotyping or offensive portrayals which can lead to people with Tourettes being bullied or excluded.
Tourettes (Gilles de la Tourette syndrome) is a neurological condition affecting over three hundred thousand people in the UK. The main symptom of Tourettes is 'tics' - involuntary and uncontrollable movements (motor tics) and sounds (vocal tics). 10 percent of people with Tourettes, including Tourettes Hero, have a form of Tourettes called Coprolalia which means tics can include obscene or unacceptable language. 90% of people with Tourettes do not uncontrollably swear.
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