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"Employable Me" - UK TV show that sounds interesting

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Tourette’s sufferer who shouts out 'I’ve got a bomb' and 'death to the infidel' during interviews vows to find a job despite his embarrassing tic
Paul Stevenson, 52, struggling to find a job due to severe Tourette's
Former doorman developed condition after the death of a close friend
Mr Stevenson, of Northumberland, fears he may never work again
His efforts are featured in upcoming BBC2 show Employable Me

ByJoseph Curtis For Mailonline

Published: 09:26 GMT, 18 March 2016 | Updated: 10:03 GMT, 18 March 2016

A Tourette's sufferer who cannot stop himself shouting 'I've got a bomb' and 'death to the infidel' has vowed to find a job, despite his embarrassing tic.

Paul Stevenson, 52, suffers from a severe form of the condition that was brought on after the death of a close friend six years ago.

The former nightclub doorman, who lives in Berwick, Northumberland, now fears he may never work again because of the things he shouts but refuses to give up his search.

The father-of-four appears on the upcoming BBC2 programme Employable Me, featuring a host of people struggling to find a job due to a variety of conditions.

He is seen going through job adverts with his wife Carol, shouting 'Silence! Shhh!' when she suggests he try for a library assistant role, and then 'S******* the dead' when she points out trainee funeral director.

Mr Stevenson told the Newcastle Chronicle his Tourette's first emerged when his best friend and fellow doorman took his own life after developing Parkinson's, with his first symptoms coming at the funeral.

He has also worked as a milkman and bus driver, and is now desperate to work again.

Speaking on the programme he said: 'The thing is, I don't feel capable and when you've not got that confidence you put yourself at the back of the queue. I don't want to work...I do want to work - that was a tic.'

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he added: 'It's [work] what we are put on earth to do. I've no aspirations to be a millionaire. I just want to provide for my family.'

Mrs Stevenson, who works in a special needs school, said she is terrified her husband will end up being attacked over his involuntary outbursts, which include insults about people's looks and even racial slurs.

She told the Mirror: 'He will say the most inappropriate things. He must have someone with him to make sure other people know he is not a threat.'

Speaking on the show, she added: 'In an ideal world, I'd love him to go back to work, for the family and for himself. It gets him down. I'm still hoping he can get something. It means a lot for his own self-esteem.'

The couple have the four children - Sofia, 11, Harvey, nine, Tyler, eight, and Charlie, six.

It is thought only 10 per cent of the UK’s 300,000 Tourette’s sufferers have as severe a condition as Mr Stevenson. 

On the show he is seen considering life as a fisherman until he learns his tic could be dangerous on a trawler to both himself and the rest of the crew.

His wife said he is calmest when taking pictures, with an occupational therapist confirming his photographic talents are among the top six per cent in the country, meaning it could lead to a job.

He told the Chronicle: 'I get a lot of pleasure from taking photographs. I can walk outside with a camera, it cuts the anxiety down.'

Mr Stevenson has run photography workshops for people with the condition to try to help them with their problems by focusing on their creativity.

He is also trying to establish a drop-in centre for people with Tourette's and works with Tourette’s Lifelong Care’s charity in the North Northumberland branch.

Employable Me, which will be shown at 9pm on March 23, also features an autistic man named Brett, 34, who has been turned down at every job interview he has attended for the past eight years.

But by working with experts including Cambridge University's Autism Research Centre director Professor Simon Baron Cohen and occupational psychologist Nancy Doyle, the job seekers are shown how the strengths and unique skillsets that accompany their conditions can be harnessed in order to help land them their dream job.

The BBC will show three hour-long episodes in the series.
Employable Me will be shown on BBC 2 on March 23 at 9pm.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3498357/Tourette-s-sufferer-shouts-ve-got-bomb-death-infidel-interviews-vows-job-despite-embarrassing-tic.html#ixzz43Figjval
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