When Rene was in grade seven he was sent to a school run by the Janeway Children's Hospital. But the work in the school was very simple. Rene was bored. He did not like being in a school with so many young children. After two weeks Rene quit. He demanded to be taken back into the regular school. Rene stayed in school until the beginning of grade 10. Later he completed his high school equivalency at the Brother T.I. Murphy Centre in St. John's.

For Rene, finding a good job has been hard. Although his Tourette's has gotten better and he doesn't shout obscene words any more, he still has other kinds of tics. Rene sniffles and clears his throat a lot. Sometimes his body jerks. Tourette's Syndrome is not very common. His tics make other people very uncomfortable. Many people who see Rene's tics think he is acting strange on purpose. They think he is trying to get attention. They don't realize he has a medical condition.

Once Rene attended a seminar held by a company that sells children's books door to door. During the seminar Rene had some tics. After it was over, the man leading the seminar took Rene aside. He told Rene that he couldn't hire him because he might offend the customers. This kind of thing is common for Rene. Rene is honest about his Tourette's. He always puts it on his resume. "That's probably why I hardly ever get an interview," he says. When he does get an interview they rarely go well. "I get weird vibes from the employers. Sometimes they even snicker and stuff."

Rene managed to get a job washing dishes in a restaurant. He also did little things like preparing salads. One day he came to work and found someone else doing his job. He began to get fewer shifts. Soon he wasn't working at all. "If they wanted to get rid of me," he says, "I wish they would have come right out and done it. That would have been better than just keeping me hanging on."

Rene decided to try university. "That was probably the easiest time I ever had," he says. "The profs and other students didn't seem to mind about my tics." Rene completed two years at university. "It was a good experience," he says, "but it just wasn't for me." He has now decided to try business school at Cabot College. He is on the waiting list. In the meantime he lives on social assistance.