Lewis Capaldi’s powerful performance at Glastonbury left 17-year-old musician Wilamena emotional because of the impact it will have on raising awareness of Tourette’s.
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Yesterday, Monday 26th June 2023, I was invited to the ITV Good Morning Britain TV studio in London to discuss live on air what it’s like to be a musician with Tourette’s Syndrome and to speak to the challenges that Lewis Capaldi is experiencing in his life with late-onset Tourette’s Syndrome.
Lewis Capaldi’s very moving set at Glastonbury Festival, where his tics escalated and started to impact his ability to sing, has connected people across the UK to him in a very moving way and the issues around living with Tourette’s Syndrome. It was a fantastic moment of empathy towards Lewis and his Tourettes, and you could see the crowd wanted to support him.
It was amazing to sit on the sofa with Ed Balls and Susanna Reid and chat with them about music and Tourettes. Ed and Susanna were open and interested in my responses to their questions.
Big shout out for Wilamena Dyer, talking brilliantly about Tourette’s and Lewis Capaldi this morning.
Ed Balls
Ed, Susanna and I spoke about owning the condition and not hiding it, as suppressing worsens the tics later on and that it is so much better to tell people, be honest about the tics and educate. Raising awareness is vital around conditions like Tourettes.
Lewis Capaldi has late-onset Tourette’s Syndrome, so it is incredible for him to own it still onstage. For me, Tourettes is 100% part of who I am, it has shaped who I am, but it isn’t who I am. Most importantly for me, when I started doing music, playing cello and percussion, my tics went away, so I threw myself into my music, which is partly why I am a musician now.
Ed spoke about how much he related to the issues caused by Tourettes due to his experience with a stammer and the work he has done with children who have struggled with stammers.
The tough thing for Wilamena is that when she is with her family, her friends, performing – after a while chatting with us, it’s just who she is, but the challenge is every time she meets a new person, she has to explain it all over again, or she has to go through that first stage of them thinking well this is unusual, how do I deal with this, and that is a lot of pressure and stress to carry, and she did it with, you know, a smile, and a buoyancy and a determination. I thought she was really impressive.
Ed Balls
Watch the video below for the full interview.
Wilamena Xx
P.S. A huge thank you to ITV GMB for giving me a platform to raise awareness – the empathy and kindness of Ed and Susanna, and the fantastic ITV GMB team who arranged everything to get me on set at very short notice.
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