Reading football fan with Tourette's makes plea over abuse at games

Reading FC season ticket holder Kieran Challis says being at a match "brings out the best in me"

A football fan with Tourette's syndrome has said he wants to raise awareness of the condition after receiving abuse at his club's matches.

Kieran Challis, 21, suffers vocal and motor tics, which cause him to make involuntary sounds and movements.

After being made to feel uncomfortable at several Reading FC games, he said he decided to tweet the club's other fans.

Mr Challis said the response to his post has "100% changed the way I feel about going to games now".

In his tweet, he explained: "There has been a few home and away games where I have been made uncomfortable. This isn't people's fault it's the fact I'm to [sic] nervous to say anything to the people."

• What is Tourette's syndrome?

He wrote that if people see him "shaking my head constantly or making weird noises" it is not an attempt to annoy people.

Speaking to BBC Radio Berkshire, he said the response to his post had been overwhelmingly positive.

"Loads of people have been really supportive, saying: 'Keep your head up, it's really brave what you're doing'," he explained.

"I don't want to pick out the people who have said things to me - I just want to spread that awareness."

'Dirty stares'

Mr Challis told how he was bullied at school after his symptoms emerged at the age of 12.

"That was the hardest five years of my life," he said, adding: "I just want to be seen as a normal person."

"I do try my best to control it but it's very hard. The longer I try to hold on to a tic, it comes out 10 times worse."

But despite the "dirty stares" and remarks, he said watching his beloved Reading FC was his "escape where I can just let it all out and be me".

:: Listen in full to Mr Challis' interview with BBC Radio Berkshire's Sarah Walker: Living with Tourette's: 'I've always been picked on'