Starting July 1, a new law will take effect in Florida. It's focused on improving communication between law enforcement and people with autism.
The bill helps officers better identify those people before situations escalate. Law enforcement officers across the state are getting new training to help them interact with people with autism.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 418 this week.
"This bill is going to be great for citizens with autism in the state of Florida, in that it's a quick disclosure for the law enforcement officer to understand that they are dealing with someone with autism, which is crucial," retired Police Lt. Jimmy Donohoe, founder of First Responder Autism Training.
That quick disclosure is a blue envelope or a blue card. The envelope will hold important information, like a person's drivers license, registration and proof of insurance.
The blue color lets officers know the individual has autism.
"This is not something that is not going to stigmatize someone," said Sherry A. White, president and CEO of Capstone Adaptive Learning and Therapy Centers. "It is just moving forward with dignity, respect, safety, better solutions, and outcomes. And being in the disability field, I for one, see this as a positivity move."
Donohoe, who fathers a son with autism, says this can help those who are nonverbal or have difficulty communicating.
"People with autism often have delayed responses," Donohoe said. "And law enforcement, we are not used to delayed responses that might indicate someone is lying to us because they have a warrant, so this bill will change the officers perspective of the person they've stopped."
"And that's so that they're not digging in and getting more upset as they go along," he said. "And the blue envelope discloses right away."
Another key component of this new law required training for officers.
"De-escalation techniques and understanding what's going on with people with autism, how they think differently than we do, and so we have to adapt to them and not them adapt to us," Donohoe said.
Monday, June 22, 2026
Blue Envelopes in Florida
In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between first responders and autistic people. Some jurisdictions allow autistic drivers to ask for a blue envelope to disclose the driver's diagnosis in case of an accident or traffic stop. Others have ID cards.
