http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/autopsy-finds-that-md-man-with-down-syndrome-died-of-asphyxia-while-in-police-custody/2013/02/15/4d752304-77ab-11e2-b102-948929030e64_story.html
The victim, and that is exactly what he was, had Down Syndrome. But many of the behavioral challenges are consistent with Autism. Especially under duress.
I developed a 2 hour seminar on interacting and communicating with an Autistic person in an emergency situation. I've presented it to the EMTs, fire departments, police departments and sheriff's offices around here; and I'm looking for funding to make it statewide without the state's involvement. I started down that path and rapidly discovered that wasn't in any challenged person's best intereest to let the state mental health department get involved.
To condense the fine points, when an Autistic person is under duress such as an accident, fire or police interaction, his (or her) receptive and expressive communication skills (if they have any) go right out the window. Everything that is spoken to them comes in jumbled and frightening, kind of like a threatening Charlie Brown teacher. It's not sorted for comprehension, it's just noise on top of whatever other frightening noises are assaulting them. What they do see, all to clearly, are the visual cues. Facial expressions and body language, if angry or emotionally elevated, will ramp up their anxiety. All of this drives them straight into a fight or flight mode, quite often both at the same time as they fight to escape. The best way to communicate with an Autistic person under stress is visually, either with sign language or visual cue cards. How many LEO or first responders know sign language or carry picture cards? Exactly, so they resort to what they know, which is yelling at the person. Fight or flight. And when there is a resistant, or God forbid, aggressive "perp"? What is their response? Without checking to find out the person's condition, it's escalated and quite off deadly aggression.
I repeat, anyone wanting to get at my girls will have to go through me first.
5 comments:
If we started making the police responsible for their acions instead of cowering behind the badge, this behavior would stop. All we have to do is mandate that any cop who kills or comitts an otherwise serious felony be executed by a firing squad consisting of his peers.
They would get the message faster then lightening.
gtranted, Their job is not easy, especially in places like Chicago, New York, LA,or Detroit, but the people they deal with are still humans.
I have noticed an incredibly disturbing/disgusting trend among LEOs. When LEOs discover that an individual has autism/downs syndrome, they immediately attack the throat and head of the person, increasing the distress and alarm. This gives LEOs all the made up/invented probable cause they want to use all the moves they have watched in MMA and WWE. The Thin Blue Line then guarantees that these "officers" will get paid vacations to work out and get ready for their next tag-team match on an Exceptional Family Member.
Obamacare is known to have clauses that are being used to deny care to those that "do not provide a quality service to society." Patriots must now seriously look to the reality that LEOs are being used to "remove" socially undesirables such as severe autistic and downs syndrome from the population. New York currently has put together a special task force especially for this goal.
Asperger's Syndrome (high functioning Autism) was all but eliminated last year by Obama's team of medical specialists. This is the group that Lanza fell under. Getting treatment and meds for these individuals has become all but impossible.
LEO has been conditioned to interpret anything that a 'normal' person wouldn't do as a threat. Idiots.
Write something up concerning this and send it to me - I'll post it verbatim. I've got lots of LEO reading my blog, maybe it'll get through to some of them. As our fearful leader is so fond of saying: "If it saves one child..."
Thanks wirecutter. I'll try to condense my 2-hour monologue down to something manageable. I owe you one. Again.
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