Marc Elliot came to Staples Wednesday to talk to students about living with Tourette syndrome and Hirschsprung’s disease and about how students can be more tolerant in their own lives.
Marla Friedson ’14 saw one of Elliot’s presentations in January with her youth group. With the help of Mr. Dodig and the PTA, Marla worked hard to bring Elliot to the Westport schools.
Elliot’s presentation focused on tolerance of others’ differences. At the start of his presentation, Elliot asked, “What is it like to stand out against a huge group of people?” He went on to explain how he has stood out in his life and how he has dealt with it.
Elliot suffers from Hirschsprung’s disease, which affects his intestines. He spent the first six months of his life in the hospital and had seven operations in the first four years of his life, all of which left him with four feet of small intestine, as opposed to the average human’s 24 feet. This has caused him many challenges, including difficulty eating and drinking in public, and going to the bathroom.
At age five, Elliot experienced the early symptoms of Tourette syndrome, which he was officially diagnosed with when he was nine. This syndrome caused him to “fulfill an itch” as he described it, by making extraneous sounds, known as tics. He would scream curse words in public, would chop down on his jaw, and bark like a dog, he explained.
After dealing with this for 20 years, he took classes in New York City that helped him overcome his tics. He is now “virtually tic-free,” he said.
When his Tourette syndrome was at its worst, Elliot would carry a card in his pocket, which explained his condition. He would give it out when he was acting out in public. The bottom of the card read: “I’m sorry if it bothers you, it bothers me more.” Elliot explained that people would only think about how they were affected by his actions, not how his actions were affecting him.
This enabled Elliot to transition to his main message: be tolerant of others. At one point, Elliot asked everyone in the auditorium to think about one person at Staples who they don’t like. He then asked everyone to think about one challenge they personally woke up with in the morning. Then he asked the audience members to consider that the very person they dislike may have some challenge that he or she is going though.
“We know so little about other people’s lives,” he said. This activity supported the theme avoiding assumptions and judgments present throughout Elliot’s whole presentation. Eliot asked that listeners, if nothing else, be tolerant of other people. “We think we ‘know’ people because we have heard about them or we have seen them,” he said. “But how can you judge someone you don’t actually know?”
Elliot repeated the phrase, “Live and let live.” Elliot advised members of the audience to live their own lives without caring about the way other people live theirs.
In an interview after the presentation, Elliot gave a piece of advice that he said he wishes he knew in high school. He wishes he knew how little everybody focuses on everyone else. “We all think that everyone around us is analyzing our every move,” he said. However, “nobody cares as much as you think they do.” Had he known his as a teenager, Elliot said he would have been much more comfortable with himself; he wouldn’t have had to worry about what he thought everyone was thinking about him.
This being said, Elliot left the school hoping to have relayed a sense of confidence and tolerance.
Learn more about Marc Elliot: http://www.marcelliot.com/
