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When Jess Thom leaves her south London home she is never quite sure of the reaction she will get.

Sometimes she is stared at, on other occasions people will point and laugh and at times she is blatantly shunned.

"It's sort of natural for people to look at something that looks different," she tells us.

"I understand the condition is a bit unusual."

Jess - like 300,000 other people in Britain - has Tourette's syndrome.

Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a widely misunderstood neurological condition which causes those who have it to shout out, make strange noises and move their bodies uncontrollably.

How 33-year-old Jess talks about the condition is very important to her: "I wouldn't describe myself as a 'Tourette's sufferer', I'd say I had Tourette's.

"How it is talked about makes a big difference to how people understand it."

Although the cause of TS is unknown it is believed to be the result of abnormalities in neurotransmitter functions in the brain.

There appears to be a strong genetic link and typically symptoms start to show around the age of seven.

Jess began experiencing tics - overwhelming impulses such as repeated blinking or throat clearing as a child however these increased in her 20s.

"I punch my chest hundreds of times a day and use a wheelchair as the tics make my walking very chaotic."

The condition also causes her to blurt out inappropriate but not necessarily offensive, words or phrases.

"I say random words like biscuit, cat and hedgehog but it is a complete mystery as to why.

"When people think of Tourette's they think about swearing but that only affects 10% of people with it. I am one of them though."