NOTABLE ACHIEVERS IN YOUR COMMUNITY : Tourette’s Sufferer Both Victim, Victor

Former marimba bandleader Julius Wechter was smoking outside of the Bret Harte Elementary School in Burbank when he was asked what would be different had he been diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome as a child.

“I don’t know,” Wechter said. “That’s an excellent question.”

With today’s medication, Wechter said his twitching and involuntary sniffing--plus the occasional curse word usually associated with the condition--might have been greatly reduced. But the medication would have slowed him down, he said.

“I don’t know if I would have accomplished what I accomplished,” said Wechter, who played with Herb Alpert and later led the spinoff Baja Marimba Band 30 years ago. Tourette’s syndrome forced him to be a showman, he said.

“I did develop an alter ego,” said Wechter, who grew up in North Hollywood. “I was the class clown, anything to distract them from my tics.”

Wechter spoke last week at the Burbank school to a group of about 25 special-education teachers. One positive thing about having Tourette’s syndrome, he said, is that people with it tend to be creative.

An incurable neurological condition, Tourette’s syndrome is inherited. Wechter’s father involuntarily clenched his jaw. His own sons also have symptoms. But he hopes genetic research may one day help.

“I have a fantasy that my grandchildren’s children’s children won’t have Tourette’s,” he said.

Only 10% of those with Tourette’s involuntarily curse, Wechter told the teachers.

Wechter, the vice president of the Tourette Syndrome Assn. Southern California Chapter, completed a master’s degree in psychology at Antioch College last week and is now working as a counseling intern with the Family Service Agency of Burbank.

“I’m the only Tourette’s syndrome person in the room,” Wechter said, trying to explain what it is like to have the disease that sometimes makes others avoid him. Women get nervous when sharing an elevator with him, he said. “You can see my tics and I can’t help that.”

Having Tourette’s syndrome is a lot like having to sneeze, Wechter said. Just like a sneeze, the twitch can be stifled for a while, but eventually it has to be released.

Wechter was 40 and at the top of his musical career before his condition was diagnosed shortly after the syndrome was identified. He learned about it only because someone had anonymously sent him a copy of Psychology Today.

“Up until I was diagnosed, nobody said a word,” Wechter said. “I felt invisible. The worst thing you can do is to ignore it.”

Now Wechter makes a point of approaching people on the street who he thinks may have the disease. While there are 100,000 identified cases of Tourette’s syndrome, many more victims do not know they have it, he said. It helps to at least understand the condition. Humor helps too, Wechter said: “It’s sad if you can’t laugh at yourself.”

For his internship before starting his private practice, Wechter in January will start a Tourette’s syndrome support group at the Family Service Agency of Burbank. For more information call (818) 845-7671.

Personal Best is a weekly profile of an ordinary person who does extraordinary things. Please send suggestions on prospective candidates to Personal Best, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Or fax to (818) 772-3338.