April is National Autism Awareness Month and World Autism Awareness Day is April 2, 2019

Awareness and understanding of Autism is still very limited.  It is often not until it hits home that people are willing to open up to what Autism is about.  It seems that not until your child has symptoms or a niece or nephew or neighbor’s child shows signs that we take more of an interest.  Reading about what it is or hearing about some of the symptoms does not always make people understand what is going on.  Living with Autism or observing it from those close to us makes us more knowledgeable and sympathetic towards the person afflicted and the family caring for the person.

Professional people are often not trained to understand Autism either and that can be concerning.  A fireman I am acquainted with once told me, “this Autism business…these kids need a good beating…” raising a fist as if punching.  I absorbed it and tried to explain my son, but I limited the conversation to keep it simple as it seemed futile.

Another instance, a retired police officer told me my non-verbal son had to say, “I’m sorry” because he disturbed his writing and thought process by disposing of garbage in a trash can next to him….I tried to explain my son did not talk and speech was random, but it just did not sink in.  So, before the situation got worse, I tried to move on and forget, but you can not forget.

Also, my son often salutes police officers.  During Mall visits or Park outings Police, Swat members, or Sheriff’s Officers give my son a “look” that I can not explain.  I do not know how they perceive this.  I know my son does this based on association with what he sees from movies or at parades, etc.  Maybe if they understood this, they would just nod or smirk with appreciation that my son thinks highly of men in uniform.

I give a great amount of appreciation to 2 very well trained police forces in NJ.  The police in Sparta, NJ are wonderful towards the Autistic population and the Warren County State Troopers do a wonderful job.  They deal with a severely impaired Autistic population who have serious behavior and medical issues.  They are very well trained and have patience and understanding.

Until they find an answer to this Autism Puzzle, we have to keep the knowledge of Autism alive and going because of the serious Social Impairment, Anxiety, OCD, Behaviors, and Medical Issues these people suffer with who are on the Spectrum.

Police and Autism

With all the bad publicity about the police and the shootings that have occurred lately giving them a negative image, I have to shed light on the positive side of the police.

I have heard of horror stories of Disabled and Autistic people having serious encounters with the police.  Many of these tragedies are due to poor training and ignorance to the disability.

I want to commend the police departments who respond to the severely disabled Autistic people in Sussex and Warren County, New Jersey.

The Sparta, NJ Police Department has done a wonderful job with the Students and Adult Training Program Clients. 

The Warren/Sussex County State Police have been superb in their response to the Group Home Residents and handling the situations they are faced with.

Amazingly, these Police forces have been very well trained for this intense job.  They have been patient, understanding, and very helpful with the Autistic population.  They have handled the situations without causing any harm to this vulnerable and difficult population. 

These forces have had to respond to many Crisis situations that were very extreme and they have done everything in their power to handle the situation with regard to preserving precious human life and without causing harm to any Autistic child.

I am very impressed with how much they care and I hope they keep up the great work.

I want to thank them for all they have done and continue to do for people with Autism.