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@dalias @CStamp @mekkaokereke Thank you for that, @shinealittlelove. I've known a few folks with Tourette's through my years of teaching, and felt the need to come to their defense. But far better for someone with the condition to speak for themselves.

Tourette's is a recognized medical disorder. It’s in the DSM-5. I can't imagine how mortifying the loss of control feels.

Asserting that a person wouldn’t say those things (again, *involuntarily*) unless the words were in their vocabulary is just mystifying to me. Are you folks saying that you're completely unfamiliar with any racial slurs? I've heard all kinds throughout my life. I'd never use them, but they’re known to me. I don't use them because I'm a good person who doesn't have to cope with my brain involuntarily blurting them out. To assume a person with Tourette's is “a racist piece of shit” because they can't control what they blurt out sometimes is offensively ableist. It's like saying people who use wheelchairs are lazy, or people who commit suicide are selfish.

As for who should apologize for the BAFTA incident, I recognize the massive hurt that that slur inflicts on Black people.

I guess the problem here is separating out involuntary tics, like Tourette’s, from intentional obnoxious behaviour. That’s the trick with mental conditions and disorders - either way, the brain is producing that behaviour and someone on the outside can't easily tell the difference.

I think that a person with a disability shouldn’t have to apologize for it. No-one would ever dream of making a wheelchair-bound paraplegic apologize for slowing things down as they try to navigate a public space. Well - good people wouldn’t. And before you're inclined to say “it's not the same,” put yourself in their place. Imagine having a brain that betrays you in the most embarrassing ways, AND having to constantly apologize for it.

In this particular situation, everyone in the room knew about Davidson's condition. There were the statements by Cumming, and the numerous tics from Davidson during the ceremony. The slur might have been shocking, but it shouldn't have been surprising, and I don't think it necessitated an apology.