Jackie McMillan

August 16, 2013

Why do autistics rock, bounce and swing?

For many people working with those who have an autism spectrum condition, autism behaviours can be difficult to understand. This lack of understanding often translates into lack of empathy. I explain the reasons behind rocking, bouncing and swinging in the hopes that a better understanding of these behaviours will assist […]

July 8, 2013

Curing Idea Resistance in the North American Medical System

My heart goes out to Dr. Peter Attia for the experience he gained from his own error, and the life challenges that left him questioning all of his assumptions. I can’t thank him enough for voicing the problem of Idea Resistance in our North American medical profession. Licensing boards seem to […]

June 27, 2013

Autism First Words: Please Listen to Carly’s Voice

If the first word that a teenager ever expressed, slowly and doggedly poking at a keyboard, was ‘hurts’, what would you do? Would you think it was a mistake? Or an accident? Or would you go deeper into the reasons for that word being the first and painstaking connection? […]

June 25, 2013

Adults with Autism: Crazy, Lying Hypochondriacs?

Sometimes people ask what drives me. Why do I push so hard to make things better, when life is already so many more degrees of difficult for me? Why am I not content with just helping a few parents, a few educators, a few adults here or there? Why can’t […]

June 25, 2013

The Tragedy of the Ramps

In the city where I live, the popular edible native plants are going extinct. Why should you care? If you can get them at the farmer’s market, what does it matter, if the ecosystem in the park is getting disrupted? In Quebec, the use of ramps in restaurants is now […]

June 2, 2013

Wakefield and Effective Whistle-Blowing

I have to believe there is room in this world to both make the world a better place, and to earn a decent living, at the same time (check out The Natural Step for a source of hope). None of us need be losers, especially those of us with the capacity […]

May 10, 2013

Are Autistics Retarded?

I just watched another video by Amanda Baggs, a non-verbal autistic whom I greatly admire. The extent to which she reflects my own autistic experiences adds to my determination to make a difference in this field of humanity. She speaks of the words we autistics are called not being the […]

May 7, 2013

Brain Inflammation and Education

It’s so hard to watch some school videos about autism, when I know how much better these students’ lives could be, with the right information and support. You see us rubbing our foreheads a lot when we’re having a bad day. The inflammation in the brain waxes and wanes, and […]

March 22, 2013

Beet Kvass

Many more people are beginning to make their own lacto-fermented pickles. Regular pickles bathe in white vinegar that is almost always a by-product of the petroleum industry, and steep in conventional salt that is missing most of the electrolytes — and nutrients critical to human health. Conventional pickles are almost-invariably […]