Carmel High speaker teaching 'tolerance, tolerance, tolerance'

He knew the students were trying not to laugh. He's seen it before.

Covering their mouth with their hands, many kids were snickering as Marc Elliot began his speech. In some ways, the giggling was understandable.

Speaking about his childhood, Elliot suddenly swiveled his hips like Elvis. He unexpectedly chomped the air, clicking his teeth loud enough to be heard across the field house. Odd grunts and groans were coming in between sentences.

The crowd was uncomfortable, which is exactly what Elliot wanted. It was a teachable moment.

Diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome when he was 9, the 23-year-old St. Louis native spoke for nearly an hour with a mission of teaching tolerance. Invited by Carmel Catholic High School's Diversity Club, he spoke to an assembly Monday at the school in Mundelein.

"This is an absolutely crazy disorder, absolutely crazy," he said. "But it's also completely involuntary on my part."

The neurological problem causes bodily movements called "tics," according to the National Tourette Syndrome Association. In addition, people with TS have vocal tics, including throat clearing, shouting, barking and other random noises.

Trying to explain what TS feels like, Elliot likened it to an itch.

"You know what it's like to get an itch on your arm or back. Your first instinct is to scratch it, right?" he said. "Well, imagine you have 10 to 15 different itches at the same time. And imagine that even though you scratch them, they come right back."

Contrary to popular belief, Elliot said fewer than 15 percent of people with TS utter obscenities or racial slurs. However, Elliot is in that group.

"If there was one thing I could change, that would be it," he said. "People get extremely offended, and rightfully so. But it is completely involuntary on my part. That is hard for people to understand and accept. The positive thing that has come of all this is that I've really seen the importance of tolerance in our society," he said. "We need to live and let live."

Elliot's message resonated with junior student Bridget Egan. "I thought his personal stories were not only emotional, but funny too. He really kept our interest," she said. "He reminded us that we shouldn't make assumptions about people. That's something that will stick with me."

TS was discovered in the late 1800s, but its cause is unknown and there is no cure. Most people with TS get better as they get older. As many as one third of patients experience remission in adulthood. Nearly 100,000 Americans have TS.

While it would be easy to feel sorry for Elliot, pity isn't on his radar screen.

"I'm not sharing my story to get sympathy," he said. "The stories show that people make assumptions about each other without knowing that person. Tolerance, tolerance, tolerance."