Autism and the Police – challenging behaviors leading to restraint
Today’s post is about an issue that seems to cause a problem in some countries far more than others. While some people with mild autism (Asperger’s) may feel anxiety when dealing with the police, the big problem occurs when the police are called in to restrain someone with severe autism and particularly someone who is also non-verbal with MR/ID. Most people with untreated severe autism actually have MR/ID, even if it was never diagnosed. It would never occur to me to call the police to restrain my own son, but in North America this is a regular occurrence. It sometimes does not end well, often it was the parents who called the police, when it is not the parents it is likely to be the school. The research shows that most often the police in the US do successfully resolve the incident. I did ask my son’s assistant what she knows about the police dealing with aggressive autistic people. She knows lots of people with autism and parents. She initially did not understan...
