Sharn Davidson has lived most of her life with Tourette syndrome (TS), a neurological disorder that causes involuntary movements and vocalizations known as tics.
Her Tourette’s have an unusual shape. Her tics make two different roaring noises, which she describes as dinosaur noises.
“They definitely sound different. One is very high-pitched and screechy, while the other is more ‘crazy’,” Davidson says.
The Perth high school teacher and mother of three said children around her were not bothered by the noise. In fact, they think they’re funny and give them names.
“My dinosaur names are Kevin and Terry,” she says.
“My 12th grader was actually named Kevin and my kids were named Terry.”
Of the two, Kevin is the more talkative and comes out more often.
“He’s very loud and picky,” Davidson said.
Sharn Davidson’s tattoo of the two dinosaurs “living inside her”, Terry and Kevin. (ABC News: Christine Layton)
Trauma triggers tics
As a child, Davidson didn’t know she had Tourette’s disease and suffered from strange tics about once a month for years.
But after witnessing a shocking incident on the motorway when she was 21, her tics increased to more than 100 a day.
“It was really a coincidence. It was a really vague thing. [The woman on the freeway] “He was driving and said he wanted to prove his innocence and tried to take his own life in the car,” she said.
“Fortunately she didn’t make it, but the people there were all really calm and helped her or stopped her.
“But I think that was a really profound moment for me.”
After her tics worsened dramatically, Davidson began searching for answers, but it took five years for doctors to tell her what was happening.
“I visited quite a few doctors and was lucky enough to meet a gentleman who said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s just Tourette’s,'” she says.
”It was actually kind of cool. It’s great to be able to put labels on things that are out of your control.”
She realized that stress was a trigger. This means that noise often occurs when you are uncomfortable.
“Inappropriate situations really turn me on,” she says.
”[It happens in] It should not be done in situations where there are many people you don’t know, such as in a classroom, library, or during an exam. ”
Living with dinosaurs
When the ABC met Ms Davidson, she was attending a road safety workshop with her children and 40 other children and parents when an uproar erupted.
She is now skilled at dealing with such situations, unashamedly simply announcing, “I have Tourette’s. Sorry, I make noises like a dinosaur,” and the workshop continued without fuss.
She also uses tics in the classroom to educate students about diversity.
“I could take medication, but I don’t really feel like I need to,” she says.
“I think if you make your differences really enjoyable and comfortable, other people will reflect that and feel the same way.
“I’m very lucky. I have a fairly mild form of Tourette’s disease.”
She also has students who have been diagnosed with the syndrome, and she tells them about her tics.
“Of course we don’t tell them about road accidents and things like that. That’s too much for little people,” she says.
“But it made them feel a little bit better knowing there was someone who wasn’t hiding, and there’s no shame in that.
“It’s something I embrace and it’s part of my personality.”
She has two tattoos on her arms of Kevin and Terry, the dinosaurs she welcomed into her life.