"I knew from the trailer that it was about a man with Tourette syndrome (TS). What I didn't know was that it was about a real person: John Davidson who was the subject of a 1989 BBC documentary called John's Not Mad and who later received an MBE for his efforts to educate people about the condition and support his fellow sufferers. Before that programme, most people had never heard of TS."
"From the trailer, it seemed clear that the film was going to try to have its cake and eat it by both capitalising on the undeniable comic potential of someone shouting the most inappropriate things (I use spunk for milk) at inopportune times and attempting to continue Davidson's work of raising awareness in a respectful and sensitive way. I hope it's not a spoiler to say it was successful on both counts but of course I only knew that by the end."
"As the film was starting, a young man sitting in the row in front of us suddenly shouted out a string of obscenities. For a minute, I thought it was a joke albeit one in very poor taste. However, it quickly became apparent that this was a real-life person with TS: a teenager accompanied by his father. And as the film continued, so did the boy with no apparent intervention from either his dad or anyone in the audience."
Three vicars attended a screening of I Swear, a film portraying John Davidson, a man with Tourette syndrome who featured in the 1989 BBC documentary John's Not Mad and later received an MBE for advocacy. The film balances comedic moments arising from involuntary outbursts with a respectful effort to raise awareness and continue Davidson's work. During the screening, a teenager with TS vocalised obscenities throughout, creating audible disruption and mixed audience reactions. The situation raised questions about accommodation, special screenings for neurodiverse audiences, and the persistence of Tourette-related stigma, especially in comedy contexts.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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