CASSIDY RICHARDSON: My tics can actually become part of the movement. Anything can be dance;
any movement can be a dance move.
CASSIDY RICHARDSON: Tourette’s syndrome is a disorder involving tics, both motor and vocal.
Tics can be anything from a hit of the nose, it can be a sniff, it can be a cough. I have got about 150 different
tics all happening at one time. My main tics are my little head shake.
CASSIDY RICHARDSON: Facial grimaces, sound like a mouse sometimes, shoulder movements.
The stereotypes with Tourette’s is that if you have got Tourette’s you swear, whereas it is very different to that.
Tourette’s can range from very mild to very severe. Most of the time it’s embarrassing. I still get a lot of people,
they look at me and they are like, ‘What are you doing? Like, what’s that movement that you are making?
What’s that noise that you are making?’
CASSIDY RICHARDSON: Dance is my life. It’s, I live and breathe it.
CASSIDY RICHARDSON: When I was younger I thought that this choreographer might not want me because
I might be annoying with my tics. But as I have grown older, I've gotten to know the industry and I just say,
‘Oh, just letting you know I have got Tourette’s. So in the middle of the class I might make a facial grimace at you.
I am not like, not angry at you. That’s just one of my tics.’ And they say, ‘Thank you for letting me know.
That should be fine.’ Then they just continue on with the class. So getting to know that has kind of made me be
like, ‘Oh! No, people don’t actually care.’
CASSIDY RICHARDSON: I got a lot of bullying when I was younger, pretty much because we didn’t know what it was.
JANELYE RICHARDSON: It all started when Cassidy was quite little. So we took her to the doctor. To diagnose
Tourette’s, they need more than one motor tic and more than one vocal tic and for them to be in existence for
at least 12 months. So at that point she hadn’t had any what we thought were vocal tics. I think the doctors were
unwilling to diagnose at first because they wanted to make sure that there wasn’t anything else causing the
symptoms. But they were also reluctant to diagnose with Tourette’s because they considered it a negative
condition. Cancer is a negative condition too, nobody wants that but if you don’t have that diagnosis,
how do you treat it? How do you live with it? How do you cope with it?
CASSIDY RICHARDSON: So when I finally got the diagnosis I came back to school and just told everyone.
All my friends have always been very supportive of it. I thought that maybe my Tourette’s wouldn’t let me be in
the industry that I want to be in. However, now I don’t think that, that will stop me. When I am concentrating
on something that I love, the tics kind of just go away.
JANELYE RICHARDSON: I find it hard to describe in words how it feels to watch her dance. Obviously I am
very proud of her for what she has done and how she has put her mind to what she is doing and wanting to
make a career out of it.
CASSIDY RICHARDS ON: I don’t really know how else to explain other than just being free, being in the moment,
not thinking about the Tourette’s, not thinking about anything else. Sometimes I can even incorporate
the tics into the movement.
JANELYE RICHARDSON: There is a negativity associated with Tourette’s. It’s always been something that’s been
related to the swearing and cursing in public. And there’s a lot more people that live with Tourette’s with mild
symptoms but are embarrassed or ashamed or are made to feel that way.
CASSIDY RICHARDSON: If someone started teasing me for something, I just be like, ‘Look, I have got Tourette’s
syndrome. I don’t know if you know what that is.’ And then go into all the details of it, probably bore them.
The more awareness there is, the more information there is, then more people will understand
what exactly the syndrome is.
JANELYE RICHARDSON: It’s just a matter of that knowledge, the information leading to that
understanding and acceptance of anything. Did I pinch your line?
INTERVIEWER: You pinched the catchphrase. JANELYE RICHARDSON: Do you want me not to say that?
CASSIDY RICHARDSON: Knowledge and information leads to understanding and acceptance.
And we have always kind of, lived by that motto.