Awakenings and Tourette Syndrome
In the 1920's, Leonard Lowe is a normal ten year old boy who is attacked by a mysteriously crippling disease. The onset of the disease manifests itself in periods of what I can only term "suspended animation." At one moment, the victim is engaging in a normal activity, and at another he appears to be a living statue. Early in the disease, these periods of suspension last anywhere from a few moments to a few hours, and eventually, the victim is trapped seemingly forever in the statue phase. Only certain specific outside stimuli obtains a physical reaction, such as catching a ball or walking. When the movie begins, they show Leonard to us as a normal and seemingly healthy ten year old boy who is afflicted with the "sleeping sickness" disease that reached epidemic proportions during that specific era. Like many others who contracted this illness, Leonard and those like him were often misdiagnosed and eventually placed in mental hospital facilities because of their apparent vegetative state. Doctors who worked on the earlier cases believed the patients mental faculties to have been destroyed by the illness. Dr. Sayer (Dr. Oliver Sacks in real life) discovers that certain vegetative patients reacted to outside stimuli, such as a p
We have to be accepting [of people with TS], rather than rejecting them from society. We must give them the opportunity to see health-care professionals skilled in neurobehavioral disorders rather than classifying what they have as 'mental illness,' which limits benefits and access to providers. We have to make reasonable accommodations for them in school and at work. What Dr. Sacks discovered is what we today call Tourette's Syndrome. Tourette's Syndrome is an inherited, neurological disorder characterized by repeated and involuntary body movements (tics) and uncontrollable vocal sounds. In a small amount of cases, the vocalizations can include socially inappropriate words and phrases -- called coprolalia. The "tics" are associated with misbehavior and kids are often labeled "bad". This can cause immense psychological harm to this child, if the child has yet to be diagnosed. Even adults with undiagnosed TS can run into trouble. Only a few years ago, major league baseball player Jim Eisenreich's career nearly ended because of unrecognized TS. With help, he has gone on to have a very successful baseball career. Before Tourette's Syndrome was recognized as a disease, the effects could be as bad as Leonard's. The early effects of this disease included living as a "statue" and only moving when approached by specific stimuli. This is the form of Tourette Syndrome depicted with in the movie "Awakenings." attern on a floor, a tossed bal
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 979
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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