From isolation to advocacy

As a child, Jae-Leigh Lobban could often be seen shaking her legs, sometimes uncontrollably. It was a seemingly minor habit that she paid little attention to, often attributing the movements to anxiety, that was until she was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome last year. A few years prior, at 18 years old, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Now 22 years old, Lobban spends much of her time on social media educating Jamaicans about both conditions, using the platform not only as a therapeutic outlet, but also as a tool to raise awareness. Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental nervous system disorder that causes sudden, repetitive, and involuntary movements or sounds called tics. There are two main types of tics: motor and vocal. Motor tics are fast physical movements such as blinking, shrugging shoulders, or jerking the head. Vocal tics are sounds such as throat clearing, shouting, grunting, or sniffing. Meanwhile, bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that causes shifts in a person’s mood, energy levels, and thoughts. Lobban said both diagnoses were difficult to accept. “There were a lot of tears shed when I first found out about each of the diagnoses. I was hospitalised for both of them at some point in time, and then I just got to a point in my life where I just had to accept that this is who I am and there’s nothing I can do about it, so I might as well accept it and try to spread awareness about both of them,” Lobban told the Jamaica Observer. She said that, looking back, the signs and symptoms were there for both conditions, but they were overlooked because of a lack of information and awareness, which led her to seek medical attention later.

LOBBAN...I hope this article will help educate people so that I’m able to feel more comfortable leaving the house

“As a child, my symptoms were very minuscule. For Tourette’s, I only had a leg-shaking tic, and I genuinely, as a child, just thought I was shaking my leg and couldn’t stop it. As a child, you don’t know that there’s something wrong with you. For bipolar disorder, I think the signs were there as a kid, but I was also just such a well-mannered child that it kind of got overlooked. “As someone who is bipolar, you go through manic stages, and something you might do when you’re manic is rearrange your entire room. Now, as a kid or a teenager, my mom just thought, ‘Oh, she’s just up at 3:00 am rearranging her room because that’s just what she’s doing,’ but that was actually a symptom of the bipolar disorder,” she explained. Lobban said that as she got older, her symptoms for Tourette syndrome became more noticeable. She said her leg shaking became more frequent and eventually her hands started to shake as well. She said she would often hit walls, herself, and even other people. The 22-year-old recalled one occasion, while seated in the front passenger seat on a drive home with her dad, she suddenly threw her hands and feet in the air. In another incident, she said she had a neck tic while in class that led her to believe she was having a seizure. In the summer of 2025, she visited a neurologist who confirmed that, in addition to bipolar disorder, she has Tourette syndrome. By then, Lobban had made peace with being bipolar, but Tourette syndrome was a bit harder to digest. A student at The University of the West Indies pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, she said she often had tics while in class, moments she said were sometimes embarrassing, but luckily, she has a good community. “I had an incident in one of my classes where I ticked, and it became a thing, and so that’s how my entire class found out I have Tourette all at once, which was so easy for me; I didn’t have to individually tell everybody, and everybody was really nice about it. The entire class told me that they’re not judging me. My lecturers are very patient, and they ignore it, which is what I like them to do, not acknowledge it, because acknowledging it sometimes makes it worse,” she said. “In school, most people know what it is, or if they don’t know what it is, they’re open to hearing about what it is, and then they accept it. It is admittedly embarrassing sometimes, when I might hit somebody or touch somebody, but then when they turn around and see that it’s me, they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s fine,’ ” she shared. However, life outside of school is not as easy. Lobban said that because most people are not aware of what Tourette syndrome is she would often get stared at or referred to as a “mad person”. She said these interactions caused her to isolate herself to avoid the awkward interactions and judgemental looks, but she knew she did not want to hide from the world forever. One day, she decided to record a TikTok video to vent about her condition and the experiences she has had as a person living with Tourette syndrome in Jamaica. Lobban said the videos became a form of therapy, which led her to find community in a group of people living with the condition across the world, who use their platforms to spread awareness about it. With each video posted, Lobban said she got questions from her more than 1,000 followers who wanted to know more about Tourette syndrome and bipolar disorder. “Instead of just venting, I started educating whoever would watch the TikTok videos and then a few days ago, it kind of just blew up and more people started seeing it,” she told the Sunday Observer. Lobban said she got a lot of comments from Jamaicans who did not know that black people could have Tourette syndrome or who thought it was just an American thing, misconceptions she was happy to clarify. “On my most recent video, there were a lot of positive comments, and people were genuinely trying to educate themselves. It made me very happy to see that a country that, back in the day, would have shamed or said they’re going to beat it out of me or whatever, they are trying to learn about Tourette [syndrome],” she said. “Even though I do get some comments like that still, I just delete them, because my page is supposed to be a safe space for people with bipolar [disorder] and Tourette syndrome, so I don’t want those comments on there, but it’s very nice seeing that people are now trying to actually educate themselves,” she added. Lobban advocated for more to be done to educate the public about both conditions to create a more inclusive and accommodating society for people with disabilities. “We can’t just let people run around thinking everybody’s mad and crazy and needs a pastor to beat it out of them. We need more education in the schools. I think we need more education in the media on a whole, because everybody now is on social media,” she said. The 22-year-old also called for companies to educate themselves and be more accommodating towards people with disabilities, sharing that she has been discriminated against because of her conditions. “When companies hear that I have Tourette syndrome, because I’m very open about it...it tends to deter them from hiring me. It has forced me into freelancing, where I’ve had to develop skills. I make earrings and sell them, and I do photography as well while I’m going to school, because companies just don’t seem to want to hire someone who has Tourette syndrome. Maybe because they don’t fully understand what it is; I’m not sure...It’s not fair to me, honestly. They’re discriminating against me, which is not right,” she said, demanding a change. “I hope this article will help educate people so that I’m able to feel more comfortable leaving the house,” said Lobban. In the meantime, she urged other Jamaicans living with Tourette syndrome and bipolar disorder to hold their heads high, never allowing a diagnosis to limit their potential. “You are capable of doing anything that you want to do,” she encouraged.