Tourette’s Syndrome

Civil-rights complaint against Barrington library is dismissed

The fact that a Pawtucket man is disabled does not give him the right to disrupt the quiet of the Barrington Public Library, according to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

Richard Pacheco walked into the library on County Road one day last February and handed an employee a card which explained that he had Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes uncontrollable movements and sounds that can be loud, distracting, and disruptive.

While Pacheco fulfilled his responsibility to inform the library staff of his disability, he did not ask for a reasonable accommodation as required by the law, according to a recent ruling by the regional Office of Civil Rights in Boston.

Pacheco’s lawyer, state Rep. Raymond E. Gallison Jr., of Bristol, said yesterday that Pacheco did ask for a “quiet area,” contrary to the narrative of the case outlined in the decision.

As a result of the incident, the library has set aside a quiet room apart from the main reference area, where patrons may conduct research online without disrupting others.

Whenever I’m around others with Tourette’s I’m extremely uncomfortable. My tics kick in, I’m hyper-self-conscious, I’m collecting them for when I’m alone, say, in my car, when I can let loose with tics and twitches, throat-clearing and blinking. That said, this case brings up a lot of problems:

• Is Tourette’s Syndrome really a disability? (A disorder has never struck me as a disability.)
   
• Shouldn’t we be tolerant of those with tics, twitches, vocal outbursts that are non-violent or non-offensive? (This extremely hard for me to deal with, admittedly, even with my own children; I find it distracting and irritating.)
   
• Should a Tourette’s sufferer be disappointed or disrespected by having a quiet room set aside for him/her?

This is a difficult case that has made a few wrong turns - I don’t see the need to invoke the Americans with Disabilities Act. As I’ve already said, with relatively few exceptions, TS is not a disability. A difficulty or inconvenience, sure. But it’s rarely disabling. Further, TS can be enormously irritating. Just this morning in church I couldn’t help but wonder how my silent twithes distracted or irritated others. Imagine vocal tics in a church or, in this case, a library. It would drive me nuts. And if someone gave me a room in which to study/research “protected” from others I would be relieved. Humiliated? Probably. But still relieved. 

There are no easy answers. Feel free to discuss among yourselves.