Emergency responder’s encounter with nonverbal autistic adult

Autism in the Media- Personal Stories- Understanding Autism

I
Three years ago, our son was in an car accident which his two support staff when they hit a telephone pole. Luckily, everyone was wearing their seatbelt. The two support staff were injured to the point they could not assist My son. When the emergency responders tried to help my son, he lashed out at the police officer and EMTs because he was in pain and they had no clue he was nonverbal. Thank God he just had a seat belt red rash from accident. The accident was 10 min from our house and the supervisor of agency taking care of our son was available to address the situation and help my son onsite as I was at work. Fortunately, all worked out and no one else was injured. 

I was reminded of this incident just last week when a colleague sent me a video of an active autistic adult whom was mad and hit his father and a police officer. This was outside of an arcade/activity center the autistic adult attended frequently and the staff had grown to admire. Something appeared to have triggered the aggressive behaviors and the escalation of response be law enforcement officer.   Unfortunately, the autistic adult was declared dead at the hospital. Here is a link to the video footage.

https://www.wwltv.com/mobile/article/news/local/jefferson/teen-dies-while-in-custody-of-deputies-jpso-said-he-attacked-father-bit-deputy/289-3839c43c-a2aa-480b-95dd-701670684760

Emergency Responders may not be aware of the signs of someone having an autistic meltdown especially when observed in an autistic adult, how to address autistic behaviors, or feel they are appropriately reacting to the incident with minimal force. Proper training on awareness and techniques to address people with mental illness is very situational. These situations can be handled if trained specifically on what to look for. 

Here are some resources that may be helpful for helping educate families, law enforcement, and other emergency responders. 

https://www.autism-society.org/living-with-autism/how-the-autism-society-can-help/safe-and-sound/tips-for-first-responders/

Information for Law Enforcement

Tags:

Comments are closed