Hello, I’m Wilamena Dyer, a musician, cello player & percussionist. I am a 17-year-old girl who attends school, surfs, blogs, bakes, and travels, and I also have Tourette’s syndrome and OCD. I don’t let my neurological conditions hold me back!
I am writing this blog to bring awareness and help others with these conditions. This blog is about my story, my daily life, my tics, my struggles and little tips on how to cope.
Media Interviews and Journalist Requests
I have been a BBC Young Reporter of the Year and interviewed musicians about Tourette’s Syndrome and also been the subject of many media interviews raising awareness about Tourette’s Syndrome and neurodiversity with many top organisations, including the BBC News Channel, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio5 Live, RTL TV in Germany, ITV Good Morning Britain, Channel 5 TV News, Cornwall Live, BBC Spotlight, BBC Points West and ITV Westcountry TV, Heathrow Airport and Lloyds Bank as well as many newspapers, podcasts, videos and magazine articles. I welcome every opportunity to talk to the media and journalists about Tourette’s Syndrome and what it’s really like, my life and how music helps with my situation, so please do reach out.
Tourette’s Charities
I am proud to be a champion of the UK charity Tourette’s Action and to be associated with the USA Tourette’s awareness charity NJCTS.
So, welcome to TicTastic! Xx
MY LATEST BLOGS
BBC Radio5 Live Interview!
As if appearing on ITV Good Morning Britain wasn’t enough for one day – on the drive back home, I received a call from BBC Radio5 Live and within the hour and sat in the car just off the M4, I was in a live discussion with the fantastic Naga Munchetty and neurologist Dr Jeremy Stern who is an expert in Tourette’s Syndrome.
Lewis Capaldi & Tourettes – Good Morning Britain TV Interview!
Yesterday, Monday 26th June 2023, I was invited to the ITV Good Morning Britain TV studio in London to discuss live on air what it’s like to be a musician with Tourette’s Syndrome and to speak to the challenges that Lewis Capaldi is experiencing in his life with late-onset Tourette’s Syndrome.
ITV Westcountry TV interview & Lighting up Green for Tourette’s Awareness Month 2023
What an exciting month! I was approached to do an interview with ITV Westcountry. With footage of myself and Seren Jaye, a short film was put together about Tourette’s Syndrome and how the media have misunderstood and misrepresented it. We both talked about the stigmas attached and the difficulties we encounter in everyday life. Watch […]
NJCTS Tim Howard Leadership Academy
In the summer of 2021 I was lucky enough to discover an online conference held by NJCTS – New Jersey Centre for Tourette’s Syndrome, aimed at building confidence in young people suffering with Tourettes syndrome and enabling them to advocate for themselves and others, out in the community. Because it was an online course, this […]
Channel 4 – ‘Britain’s Tourette’s Mystery…’
Hello everyone, I hope that everyone is ok and having a good summer. Sadly today I am going to address something that has caused a huge negative impact on the Tourette’s community recently. On July 19 2022 Channel 4 broadcasted a documentary called “Britain’s Tourette’s Mystery…” presented by Scarlett Moffatt that has caused outrage within […]
Tourette’s Awareness Month 2022
This month has been Tourette’s Syndrome awareness month and I worked hard to spread the word and educate as many people as I could, in as many ways as I could! What is Tourette’s Syndrome? Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological condition that causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements called tics. It usually […]
I was LIVE on BBC Spotlight News!
Hello everyone, I am really excited to let you all know that I was interviewed live on BBC Spotlight News TV on 15th February 2022! I hope that you are all well and happy new year, as this is my first blog post of 2022 due to a few hectic weeks at school with my […]
TicFest 2021!
Hello everyone, I hope that you are all having a good summer so far and enjoying the sunny weather when you can. As some of you may already know, I have previously been to something called Ticfest which is run by the charity Tourette’s Action. It is where families that have children with Tourette’s Syndrome […]
Find out why Cornwall Mind needs your support and bid in their art auction this weekend
I am so lucky to have support from the NHS and school for my Tourette’s Syndrome, OCD and anxiety and it really helps me, but what happens as I get older? Students and adults can really struggle to access enough support. Typically a student in higher education might only be offered six sessions of support […]
The BBC have selected me, and the story I submitted for the BBC Young Reporter competition to be one of the winners!
The BBC have selected me, and the story I submitted for the BBC Young Reporter competition to be one of the winners! The BBC said “More than 2,500 young people aged 11-18 submitted original and interesting story ideas to the competition, which is in its third year. It gives young people the chance to make […]
Ticmas day 12 Who knows my Tourettes better?
Hello everyone, Today was the last day of Ticmas because it is Christmas Eve! I hope that you have enjoyed being able to watch a new video everyday. I am proud of myself for managing to do it! For the last Ticmas video my family and I sat down in front of the Christmas tree […]
Ticmas day 11: Music and Tourette’s Syndrome
Hello everyone, I can’t believe that Ticmas is almost over and that Christmas is literally just around the corner! For today’s video I talk about why I play music and I also talk about famous musicians who are also Tourette’s sufferers! If you haven’t seen yesterday’s video then check that out here. Merry Christmas and […]
Ticmas day 10: Taking Exams with Tourette’s Syndrome simulation
Hello everyone, I hope that you have had a good day full of fun festivities! Today was day 10 of Ticmas, so I decided to make a video all about why Tourette’s syndrome can make taking exams extremely difficult. There is currently a petition that Tourette’s action have been promoting that is arguing that people […]
Ticmas day 9: Making a gingerbread house with Tourette’s Syndrome
Hello everyone, Today was day 9 of Ticmas so my sister and I made a festive video where we made a Christmas gingerbread house. We managed to make it from scratch without it completely failing! If you haven’t seen yesterday’s video then check that out here https://youtu.be/qFDrVo8z23E Merry Christmas and Ticmas, Wilamena 🙂 Xx
Ticmas day 8: Sleeping with Tourette’s Syndrome
Hello everyone, For Ticmas day 8 I made a short video about why sleeping can be quite tricky if you have Tourette’s Syndrome. I talk about why it can be tricky and what I do to help make sleeping easier. I work through a download about sleep problems that is available at Tourettes Action for […]
Ticmas day 7: Doing art for a mental health break
Hello everyone, Today my sister and I had a bit of a bad day and I was really struggling to film one of my normal videos, so instead we made a video where we talked about mental health struggles by making a collaborative piece of random art that reflected how we had been feeling that […]
Ticmas day 6 Things that people with Tourette’s Syndrome can relate to
Hello everyone, I hope that you are all having a fabulous day filled with plenty of festivities! Today was Ticmas day 6, so my sister and I sat down and made a video where we talked about things that most people with Tourette’s Syndrome can relate to. We discussed things like the worst games to […]
Ticmas Day 5- Chat about therapies for Tourette’s Syndrome and OCD
Hello everyone, I hope that you are all having a good day full of festivities! For Ticmas day 5 I made a video where I chatted all about therapies for Tourette’s Syndrome (ERP and HRT) and therapies for OCD (CBT) and my experience with these. If you haven’t seen yesterday’s video yet then check that […]
Ticmas day 4, Making necklaces and chatting about Tourette’s cousins
Hello everyone, I hope that you have all had good day full of festivities! For Ticmas day 4 I filmed a video with my sister, Marley, where we made some necklaces for various Christmas presents and chatted all about the world of Tourette’s Syndrome cousins (conditions that are linked to Tourette’s Syndrome) and we specifically […]
