Member's statement: Tourette's Awareness Month
Member's statement by Ms Emma Sheerin on .
- MLA
- Ms Emma Sheerin
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 26 May 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Tourette's Awareness Month
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5582339
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Tourette's Awareness Month takes place from 15 May to 15 June. Tourette's is a condition that suffers a lot of bad press, mainly down to the fact that it is widely misunderstood. People who live with the condition of Tourette's are often the butt of the joke. They suffer misinformation and are mimicked and mocked at every turn. I am proud and privileged to know personally a number of people in my constituency and across the North who have the condition of Tourette's and are involved in the Tourette's support group. They do amazing work for families, particularly young people and children who suffer with Tourette's. Their stories are heartbreaking. The testimony that I have listened to would bring tears to a stone. People often make fun of the condition. We see it represented in the media, films and TV shows as something that is humorous and can be mocked, as demonstrated recently in the news story around the awards show in the wake of the amazing film, 'I Swear', which I encourage people to watch, tough as it is to get through. I have been told by people who have Tourette's that their tics, which they cannot control and which are often debilitating, are made worse by the fact that the general public and people who really should know better end up making their condition worse and making life tougher for them. I have heard of young people being admonished in the cinema, in church and in queues in shopping centres for something that they cannot control, which worsens the anxiety that they suffer as a result of their condition. What is more frustrating than all that is the fact that our statutory services, which should be offering support to our children and young people in particular with Tourette's, end up making life worse for them. The Department of Health and the Department of Education are ill equipped to deal with the condition. There is no specific training service for educational psychologists in the Education Authority regarding Tourette's. In a response to a recent Assembly question, I was told that there is no specific treatment path in the Department of Health for people with the condition. Tourettes Action produced an amazing video to raise awareness of the condition that was not mainstreamed by the Education Authority, despite promises that it would be, and the Department of Health does not hold data on the number of people across the North with the condition. All that leads to misinformation and people fighting for years to get a diagnosis, and then they cannot access the support that they need because of the lack of awareness and understanding of Tourette's. Therefore, during Tourette's Awareness Month, I ask you all to be kind and remember that people with Tourette's cannot control it.
468 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.04 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.76).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.88).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.08 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.09 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.76 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.88 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.12 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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