I’ve had anxiety-related tics since I was in 4th grade. They died down a little during the summer, since I didn’t have to do much, but they’ve been coming back now that school is in again. Most of my common ones are facial tics, which are hidden pretty well my face mask. On the topic of masks, I’ve gotten very good at masking my tics, especially my hand tics and the vocal ones. I’ll have a neck jerk tic every so often, but it doesn’t happen often. My most common vocal tics are “beep beep pardon me” and a popping noise. They’ve been getting worse lately. Should I keep masking them more, or let them happen and risk being made fun of or accused of faking?
i also have tics, and in general, its draining for me to mask them. for me, personally, i just let them happen
I would have hoped that Gen Z would have ever so much more information floating around about How Not To Be A Jerk than I did when I was 14 (and, like…nagged left-handed kids to not do that only because the adults in my life preferred right-handedness, instead of my recognizing and internalizing that it doesn't matter—even if it's uncommon, it doesn't need to be "corrected". So trying to, is kinda futile in addition to being not at all okay to do.)
Maybe if you wrote a letter to or talked to a guidance counselor or your teachers about deciding to not hide your tics anymore, and request that they can talk with your entire class about making accommodations for invisible disabilities such as tics (or allergies, or whatever somebody else in your classes can relate to, that's inclusive of accommodation)—because you shouldn't have to hide it to keep everyone "acting nice" anymore—then that'd be better?
Maybe also try to get an article about it in the school paper, if your school has a paper.
If after that your classmates make fun or accuse you of faking, then that shows what sort of people they are like, because that'd be after the whole thing was already explained to them clearly and educationally.
Disclaimer: I live alone and work from home, so I tic away.
