Healing Social Environments

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 […]

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 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 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 18, 2013

What a Toxic Hit is Like

When I go somewhere, I never know how much it’s going to hurt me, or for how long. This is one of several occasions when I have tried to document the process of recuperation, to support others in understanding the symptoms, and what kinds of environments will prevent this. People […]