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How would you feel if your neighbors complained about you making too much noise—not because you turned the TV up too high or threw wild parties, but because you had verbal tics that you couldn’t control? There are far too many people with TS who already know the answer to that question.
Luckily, landlords, tenant associations, and property managers are not allowed to discriminate against people who have tics, either on the basis of simply having a diagnosis of TS or a tic disorder, or because specific symptoms of someone’s TS irritate their neighbors. This was established conclusively in 2000 in a case brought under the federal Fair Housing Act.
In this case, a Chicago condo owner who’d lived in the same unit for over ten years was targeted by the president of his condominium association, who moved in upstairs and then objected to the sounds he could hear from downstairs. It was a clear-cut case of discrimination based on a disability, and ended with a large financial settlement and a change of policy for both the condo association and the property manager1. Similar cases of discrimination continue to occur, of course, but the law is definitely on your side. There is one exception: if your behavior is directly threatening to tenants or causes damage to the property, eviction can still go forward.
That exception flags up another important housing issue, however: with rights come responsibilities. If you have TS, what steps can you take to be a considerate neighbor? Are there ways you could comfortably modify your behavior, or your environment, to keep everyone happy?
When the company One Architecture took on a commission to design a house for adult twin sisters who have experienced recurring housing problems due to TS, they looked at this question and came up with innovative solutions. For example, the sisters tend to slam doors, over and over, which had in the past caused annoyance or damage. Eviction resulted more than once. One Architecture decided that the best response was designing in things that could be safely and more quietly slammed! (You can have look at their fantastic design at http://www.onearchitecture.nl/tourette.html).
Other adults with TS have taken much simpler, less expensive steps, like putting thick padding under their carpet, removing shoes at home, buying a punching bag or gym equipment for home use, even adding soundproofing to one room—anything that relieves the stress of feeling like you must suppress your tics, even at home. The solution is either the old substitution game that most people with TS are already familiar with, where what’s needed is a more acceptable way to exercise that unstoppable urge, or creating an adapted space where what’s unacceptable outside is perfectly OK inside.
If you’re looking for rental housing, you may worry about whether prospective landlords will think differently of you because of your tics. Sometimes that’s quite a valid worry, and we all know that landlords can always come up with some other, non-obviously-law-violating reason not to rent to you. Some tenants have had better luck renting from large companies, which tend to work more from standard application forms and references than from personal impressions. It’s also true that larger companies usually have written policies and training programs for their representatives that cover disability discrimination. However, some other people with TS have found that turning on the charm in a one-on-one interview with a landlord tends to overcome objections.
Finally, for those whose TS symptoms have made it difficult to work, have kept them in low-pay occupations, or have led to repeated evictions, there may be help available from both state and Federal (and sometimes even local) housing programs geared toward getting people with disabilities into good quality, affordable homes. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development, better known as HUD, provides lots of information on its own programs and those of other agencies (see http://www.hud.gov/groups/disabilities.cfm). Programs available from various sources include help with adapting a home you’re already in, down payment and closing cost assistance for people on low incomes who would like to buy a home, and low-cost mortgage loans.
When you have TS, you often expend a huge amount of energy suppressing tics outside your home. When you walk through your own front door, it’s a real relief to be someplace where you can “let it all hang out.” With a bit of thought to location, design, adaptation, and sometimes tic substitution, your home can definitely be the haven of relaxation that you need.
1 See http://www.fairhousing.com/index.cfm?method=page.display&pageID=695 for a thorough discussion of this case
©2007,2008 Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc. 42-40 Bell Boulevard / Bayside NY 11361 / 718-224-2999