Tourette Syndrome in the Workplace
Tourette syndrome is a neurological condition characterised by involuntary movements or sounds, known as tics. Tics vary widely between individuals in type, frequency and severity, and often change over time — they can also increase under stress or fatigue, and decrease during focused, absorbing activity.
Tourette syndrome is widely misunderstood, often reduced in popular culture to a single stereotype that applies to only a small minority of those affected. In reality, most people with Tourette’s have a mix of subtle motor and vocal tics, and many also experience co-occurring traits such as ADHD or OCD.
What Tourette syndrome often brings to a team
- Resilience, developed from navigating a world that often misunderstands the condition.
- Humour and quick wit, common among many people managing tics day-to-day.
- Creativity and original thinking.
- The capacity for deep, hyperfocused concentration, particularly during absorbing tasks.
- Strong empathy, often from firsthand experience of being misjudged.
What can get in the way
- Stigma or misunderstanding from colleagues unfamiliar with the condition.
- The fatigue of suppressing tics during meetings or client-facing work, and the rebound this can cause afterwards.
- Stress-related increases in tic frequency during high-pressure periods.
- Being interrupted or misread mid-tic during conversations.
- Assumptions being made about capability based on a single stereotype of the condition.
Adjustments that tend to help
Every individual is different — the right adjustments come from a proper assessment, not a checklist. These are common starting points.
From first questions to practical support
Starting With the Do-IT Profiler
For organisations looking to identify needs across a wider workforce, the Do-IT Profiler takes a person-centred approach, looking at an individual's overall strengths and challenges across a range of cognitive areas as well as their wellbeing. It produces an individualised report with personalised guidance and practical workplace tools, dependent on the person's unique spiky profile, without requiring a formal appointment or referral process.
The Profiler does not provide a diagnosis. It provides a starting point: a data-informed view of how someone works best, what they find difficult, and what kind of support is worth exploring further. Where the Profiler indicates a need for more, Lexxic's screening and assessment services provide the natural next step. On this page, we focus on the workplace versions of the Profiler, for individuals in education or other settings, visit the full Do-IT Profiler website.
FAQs
Tourette syndrome presents differently in every individual — the strengths and challenges above are common patterns, not a checklist. The right next step is usually a conversation, not an assumption.
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