The BAFTA Awards

By now, in a stunning departure from recent years, most of the world is aware of what happened at the BAFTA film awards.

Social Media Headlines will tell you the bare bones: that John Davidson, a Tourette's Syndrome advocate, shouted a racial slur at two Actors of Colour, Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo.

From reading the comments sections, you'd think that was all there was to it: a deliberate and malicious act by someone in full control of themselves, aimed at humiliating and tearing down two Black actors.

The full story is both far simpler and infinitely more complex.

John Davidson was at the BAFTA's because one of the nominated movies, "I Swear", was a biopic about his life as a sufferer of Extreme Tourette's in adulthood.

What Is Tourette's Syndrome?

Tourette's Syndrome is characterised by uncontrollable tics. Sometimes these are physical, like a sudden jerk or flailing motion, or full-body convulsion. Sometimes they are verbal, like a yelp or wordless outburst. Sometimes they are both, like coughing, throat clearing or sniffing.

At the extreme end of vocal tics, there is Coprolalia, the vocalising of obscene or inappropriate words or phrases. This is not voluntary, and while it can sometimes be temporarily suppressed and many people with Tourette's may be able to identify when an outburst is about to occur, stopping an outburst entirely is impossible.

About 1% of people are estimated to suffer from Tourette's Syndrome, which typically manifests in childhood or adolescence. For the majority, behavioural therapy is an effective treatment that can help lessen the impact of the condition on their life. For a very small minority who experience severe symptoms, no therapy or medication or treatment will ever allow them to fake normality, and they just have to find ways to live with it.

The BAFTA Awards had made an announcement about Tourette's Syndrome in general, and more specifically made attendees aware of the possibility of a vocal tic causing disruption at some point during the evening. BBC promised to edit the tics out of the footage before the ceremony went on air.

Davidson himself said that he'd had at least nine instances of vocal tics that night, eight of which had been edited out of the footage before airing. BBC representatives claimed that this particular tic was "missed" or "unheard".

Highly unlikely, given the understandable reaction of the actors, the volume, the fact that a microphone had been placed near Davidson, and the reaction of everyone around him.

The Aftermath

Like many other instances when non-cute Disabilities enter mainstream discussion, the overall reaction has been disappointing, but not very surprising.

While Autism has it's advantages (Autistic Pattern Recognition has let me predict the new future office locations three years running now), it is ultimately a disability that has made my life harder in many ways. But Sensory Overwhelm can be managed with noise cancelling headphones and judging when I've had enough and need to quietly leave. While I may struggle with volume control and Unintentional Facial Expressions and words not wording correctly, I can at least control what comes out of my mouth.

I'm also painfully used to people who are determined to be offended taking every attempt to explain as an excuse, and accusing me of trying to dodge responsibility for my actions/emotions/facial expressions. Disabled people are Inspirational(TM), right up until we do something that doesn't fit into Abled People's Narrative of Us, and then we become the worst person in the world.

Tale as old (and Ableist) as time.

The response has been largely split between people who insist that an uncontrollable disability absolves everything and doesn't require an apology, and people who insist that the impact of Hate Speech, regardless of the cause, is the most important thing.

There is a much smaller third group attempting to hold space for both viewpoints at once, but they're getting drowned out by the outrage.

The Takeaway

First, people need to stop only reading the headlines, because media are invested in stirring up controversy for views and profit.

Second, the actors had every right to be hurt and offended, as did everyone else who had obcenitites shouted at them, particularly at least one LGBTQ person who had the word 'Pedophile' shouted at them. Words that have historically been used to demonise and dehumanise a minority don't stop hurting just because they weren't said maliciously.

If I misjudge the space around me and bump into someone, I still apologise, even though it wasn't deliberate. To his credit, John Davidson has reached out to the affected people, and done a reasonable job of advocating for understanding while apologising for the hurt caused.

Third, everyone has two hands, and can hold onto two truths at once. Offensive words are offensive, and disability symptoms are not always controllable. The actors have the right to be offended, and people with Tourette's have the right to be treated with compassion and understanding.

Fourth, while Michael and Delroy do not owe John anything, how they respond is for them to decide, and the legions of stand-up comedians and Black celebrities who are using the incident as a platform to make Ableism and Disability Discrimination Cool Again can feel free to shut up any time now.

Finally, it's worth remembering that no one suffers from disability more than the disabled person. There is still so much misunderstanding and misinformation around disabilities, especially the inconvenient ones.

A Few Thoughts on Disability

The Autism community has been saying for years that "mild" disabilities doesn't mean that the disability itself is mild; it means that Jane and Joe Public experience that disability mildly, and don't have the first clue how hard it is for a disabled person to suppress their symptoms.

A few months ago, I had to take an hour out of my workday to get a lightbulb changed, because the flickering lights were causing the kind of build-up that lead to splitting headaches and potential seizures. It's the same reason I have to research how much strobe lighting is in a play or concert, or wind up walking out well before the intermission.

I had to be seizure-free for 10 years in order to get a driver's licence. A Grand Mal seizure, or even a sufficiently long absence seizure, would mean losing my license and having to wait another 10 years to reapply.

Most of the time, my Epilepsy is ignorable, as long as I make sure to take my medication and make sure to get enough sleep. If I hadn't got that bulb changed, I can state for a fact that the rest of the office WOULD NOT be experiencing my Epilepsy mildly.

Tourette's Syndrome, and other more stigmatized disabilities like Bipolar Disorder and various Manias or Psychosis, are similar, in that the majority of sufferers can mostly function normally... up until they can't.

When that happens, the kindest thing you as a Neurotypical can do is to offer grace, and not make it all about you.