Purple Alerts Under Consideration in Washington State

The Politics of Autism discusses the problems of wandering and day-to-day safety.

From the Urbatsch Law Firm:

• Purple Alerts are a public notification system designed to help locate adults with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities who have gone missing. These individuals are not currently covered by existing alert systems, such as Amber Alerts or Silver Alerts.
• Addressing a critical gap in existing state alert systems, Purple Alerts ensure that intellectually disabled adults who are reported missing receive appropriate attention and that the public is aware of the specific circumstances.
• Currently, only five states (Florida, Maryland, Kansas, Mississippi, and Connecticut) have enacted Purple Alert systems.
• Purple Alerts can also inform law enforcement about the nature of a missing person’s disability. This can help enable a more appropriate and calm interaction when the person is located.

A week ago, KIRO-TV reported:

The Washington State Senate passed a bill that could make it easier to find missing people who are vulnerable adults or have disabilities.

The “Purple Alert,” also known as Senate Bill 6070, was passed unanimously on Thursday.

The alert could help to find missing people after a group of High School Seniors at Lake Washington High School advocated for the bill.

The bill will establish an alert system for people with disabilities and vulnerable adults.

Lawmakers hope the alert will help quickly find missing people.

It will be similar to alerts for older people who go missing.

The bill is headed to the state legislature’s House of Representatives.

From the Washington Autism Alliance: on Why SB 6070 Matters

• Clear standards for danger Families and law enforcement currently lack consistent guidance on when a missing person is truly endangered. SB 6070 clearly defines high-risk situations, including when someone has a developmental disability, dementia, serious mental health crisis, suicidal ideation, or other conditions that prevent safe self-care.
• Faster action when it counts The bill clarifies when courts may authorize rapid action to locate a missing endangered person, ensuring help is not delayed by uncertainty during life-threatening situations.
• Focus on the most vulnerable SB 6070 centers those at the greatest risk when missing, including minors, vulnerable adults, people with developmental disabilities, individuals experiencing acute mental health crises, and people with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias.
• Strong guardrails and accountability This bill includes strict limits on how tools may be used, requires court approval or rapid post-use judicial review in emergencies, limits data collection to what is necessary, and requires deletion of non-relevant information. The focus remains on recovery and safety, not surveillance.

Maddie White at KING-TV:

The proposal was inspired by the disappearance of 21-year-old Jonathan Hoang, who has the mental capacity of a 9-year-old and vanished last March. His family believes foul play may be involved. “It’s very likely he was abducted,” said his sister, Irene Pfister.

For nearly a year, the Hoang family has lived without answers. “They told me and my parents, ‘It’s not a crime to go missing,’” said Pfister. She described the emotional toll of his disappearance, saying, “Just to wake up one morning and someone you love, they’re gone with no, no sign, no trace, and like, it’s like he’s disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

Although adults with autism who go missing in Washington are eligible for an Endangered Missing Persons Advisory, Hoang’s case highlights what his family sees as confusion around how and when those alerts are used. “I think there is this misunderstanding,” Pfister said, noting that autism “is a spectrum, and it’s called a spectrum for a reason.”

In Hoang’s case, an Endangered Missing Persons Advisory (EMPA) was issued on the fifth day after his disappearance. Pfister believes hesitation stemmed from uncertainty over her brother’s cognitive abilities. “Despite our family sharing that he wouldn’t be able to get home,” she said.

The sheriff's office said the EMPA "does not trigger a mass notification system" such as a cellphone push alert, as an Amber Alert does, and that highway signs are only used when a vehicle is involved, which wasn't applicable in Jonathan's case. Considering the limitations, the sheriff's office said they decided to first lean into other communication tools to alert the public.

Autism and DHS Forces

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between the justice system and autistic people.  ICE and Border Patrol are beating and detaining innocent civilians.  Autistic kids are at high risk.

 Jo Napolitano at The 74:

The Trump administration’s weeks-long immigration enforcement campaign in Minneapolis, which has shuttered schools and terrified students and parents, has left one group particularly vulnerable: children with disabilities. 

...

Maren Christenson, executive director of the Multicultural Autism Action Network, said she lives so close to where [Renee] Good was shot that she’s worried tear gas will seep through the family’s windows from the ongoing protests.

Christenson’s 14-year-old son, Simon Hofer, has autism and she can’t predict how he would respond to an ICE agent.

The boy said he’s worried — not so much for himself, but for his friends.

“I have been feeling angry, scared, sad,” he told The 74 on Thursday. “It feels kind of hopeless sometimes and overwhelming. Friends of mine and classmates are afraid to go to school and so they attend online.”

His mother has told the special education community that even if someone is Caucasian, is a citizen, has a disability and can articulate their challenges, they are not free from peril.

Her advice? “Comply: do what they tell you to stay safe.”

But she’s unsure whether that strategy would work for people with autism who can become unmoored by such an encounter. Stress might hamper their ability to communicate, she said.

“We have held a number of community conversations and brainstormed, asking, ‘What could we do? What are people doing?’” she said. “But the truth of the matter is we are in uncharted territory. There is no guidebook, no best practices for when your city is under siege.”

Masked ICE Agents Manhandle Autistic Woman

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between the justice system and autistic people.  When cops encounter autistic people, they may not respond in the same way as NT people, and things can get out of hand. Among other things, they may misinterpret autistic behavior as aggressive or defiant. Training could help.

From the Autism Society of Minnesota:

On Tuesday, January 13, Minnesota Public Radio shared a story on its social media page showing video of a woman in visible distress as she was pulled from her car, cut from her seatbelt, tackled forcefully, and carried to an unmarked vehicle by four masked ICE agents in South Minneapolis. As she was carried — suspended above the ground by her arms and legs — she can be heard clearly stating: “I am autistic and have a brain injury,” “I am disabled, trying to go to the doctor up there,” “It takes me a second to understand,” and “I am disabled and need accommodations.”

In separate social media videos posted by others, the woman is ultimately identified by name, and civilian reports confirm that she was detained and released by approximately 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. She is confirmed to be a U.S. citizen.

Context from multiple posts and videos indicates that the woman, who is autistic and was driving alone, turned onto a street in South Minneapolis as part of her usual route to her doctor’s office. Based on her statements, it is presumed that she encountered an area heavily occupied by ICE activity but did not deviate from her route. She was subsequently approached by officers who accused her of obstructing their activity with her vehicle.

In addition to widespread concern regarding the tactics demonstrated by ICE agents in this and other known incidents in Minnesota, the Autism Society of Minnesota is deeply troubled by the heightened vulnerability of citizens with autism and other invisible disabilities amid the ongoing tension between community members and ICE.

It is well documented and nationally recognized that autistic individuals, as a direct function of their diagnosis, may experience significant difficulty during interactions with law enforcement due to differences in communication, processing speed, tolerance for the unexpected, and sensory overload—independent of intelligence or intent.

Autistic people are often known to adhere to established routines or plans, despite apparent disruptions, and require additional time to process verbal instructions, particularly when under stress. Some autistic people lose the ability to plan speech or movement when overwhelmed, frightened, or confused. Autistic people are often encouraged by authorities to disclose their disability to law enforcement or emergency responders, who may misinterpret their behavior as defiance.

The woman depicted in the MPR story exhibits numerous indicators of the real and well-documented vulnerabilities that autistic individuals may experience during law enforcement encounters. These vulnerabilities are so widely recognized that the Minnesota Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board requires all licensed peace officers in the state to complete four hours of training focused on recognizing and appropriately supporting autistic individuals to improve safety and community outcomes. Officers must recertify every three years to maintain their licensure.

The interaction observed and recorded between the woman and ICE agents in the MPR story demonstrates no apparent acknowledgment of, or competency in, responding to a disclosed disability or de-escalating an interaction involving a vulnerable individual. Federal immigration agents are not held to, trained in, or motivated by the standards Minnesota expects of law enforcement officers interacting with disabled community members.

The Autism Society of Minnesota is deeply concerned for all autistic individuals, who are statistically estimated to be 7–12 times more likely to encounter law enforcement due to disability-related processing differences. We advise autistic adults and families to exercise extreme caution in areas of ICE activity throughout Minnesota, regardless of any intent to exercise First Amendment rights.

Finally, we call upon our city and state leaders to consider this specific risk — among many others — as ICE continues to perpetuate harm through a range of deeply concerning interactions with diverse members of our community. Our community deserves safety and access to systems informed by best practices.

Civil Rights Report

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the civil rights of people with autism and other disabilities. 

From: 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection A First Look:Students’ Access to EducationalOpportunities in U.S. Public SchoolsU.S. Department of EducationOffice for Civil RightsJanuary 2025

•  Students with disabilities served under IDEA represented 14% of K-12 student enrollment, but 28% of students mechanically restrained, 68% of students secluded, and 76% of students physically restrained.
• Preschool children with disabilities served under IDEA represented 23% of preschool enrollment, but 41% of preschool children who received one or more out-of-school suspensions and 74% of preschool children who were expelled.
• Students with disabilities represented 17% of K-12 student enrollment, but 27% of students who received one or more in-school suspensions, 29% of those who received one or more outof-school suspensions, and 24% of those who received expulsions
• Students with disabilities served under IDEA represented 14% of total K-12 student enrollment, but 25% of students referred to law enforcement and 25% of students subjected to schoolrelated arrests

Prison and Autism

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between the justice system and autistic people.

At AP, Claudia Lauer reports on the Neurodevelopmental Residential Treatment Unit at Pennsylvania’s State Correctional Institution at Albion:

There is no comprehensive count of how many prisoners in the U.S. have autism or intellectual disabilities, though some studies estimate more than 4% are autistic and almost 25% reported having cognitive impairments, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics — nearly twice the rate of each in the overall population. Many advocates believe the number could be much higher because of underdiagnosis before prison or because of ineffectual or nonexistent screening at some corrections departments.

The Neurodevelopmental Residential Treatment Unit, located roughly 20 miles (32 kilometers) outside of Erie, Pennsylvania, was started about three years ago and is the only facility of its kind in the state. The unit houses about 45 men — a small population that helps staff focus on individual treatment and limits some of the sensory stimulation of prison, Soliwoda said.

There’s an exercise yard not accessible by the prison’s general population, and prisoners stay in the unit to receive their medication and see specialized treatment staff. They can check out puzzles, yoga mats or drawing supplies to help them cope in overwhelming moments. One prisoner spends hours every day juggling in the common area to help calm his mind — something that wouldn’t be allowed in most units.

...

 The unit at Albion requires corrections officers to undergo regular training on de-escalation and crisis intervention to maintain a secure environment while offering accommodations. In Indiana, where there isn’t a specialized developmental disability unit, Nick Stellema, the state's Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator, has helped corrections staff with tools to communicate with nonverbal autistic prisoners.

 Stellema and other advocates are wary of segregating prisoners with disabilities, noting that the ADA is meant to ensure people can integrate with others, even in detention.

“In the free world, these individuals have to interact with everyone, not just with other people with disabilities,” he said. “I think the whole system would benefit from a better understanding of what an accommodation can be.”

But other advocates say separating prisoners with these disabilities is the best option.

“One of the biggest things we hear is they are acting up and getting themselves put in solitary, and that is even more devastating for them,” said Brian Kelmar, president and founder of the nonprofit organization Decriminalize Developmental Disabilities. “What we’ve seen is, after solitary, the ways they have learned to interact all reverse. They regress from all gains they’ve made.”

Nevada to Establish Diversionary Court Program

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between the justice system and autistic people.

Casey Harrison at The Las Vegas Sun:

Nevada is primed to become the first in the nation to establish a diversionary court program statewide for at-risk adolescent youths with autism, a move officials say will help children on the spectrum stay on a path of success.

Gov. Joe Lombardo held a ceremonial signing Monday in Las Vegas for Senate Bill 411, which allows family courts statewide to establish an “appropriate program” for children diagnosed with or suspected to have autism spectrum disorders. The bill passed unanimously through the Nevada Legislature.

“It shows you how much effort it takes to have successful legislation,” Lombardo told attendees at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, which included autism advocates, judges and public defenders. “The thing that surprised me with today’s bill is that it hasn’t happened before today. And that’s unfortunate, but now, fortunately, we’re moving forward as a community.”

A child assigned to the program must be made aware of the terms for successful completion of the program, including probation or other informal supervision, and the court must also provide benchmarks to “ensure that every child is making satisfactory progress” toward completing the program.

Clark County’s 8th Judicial District Court launched a similar diversionary program in 2018, spearheaded by juvenile court Judge Sunny Bailey, who is the mother of an autistic child, she told the Sun.

That program, which is called Detention Alternative for Autistic Youth, or DAAY Court, came about after Bailey was assigned a case involving a delinquent on the spectrum. She and others from the district attorney’s office volunteered on the side to develop a tailored supervision program to fit that child’s needs.

Another Bad Encounter with Law Enforcement

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between police and autistic people.  Police officers need training to respond appropriately.  When they do not, things get out of hand. 

Alene Tchekmedyian at LAT

When Isaias Cervantes spiraled into a mental health crisis last week, his family called 911. A sister and a therapist who works with Cervantes told the Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who responded that the agitated 25-year-old had autism and was hard of hearing, according to another sister and a lawyer for the family.

Despite the alleged warnings, the encounter quickly escalated and ended minutes later when a deputy shot Cervantes, causing injuries that could leave him paralyzed.

“Knowing he may not walk, it’s just not right,” said a sister, Yajaira Cervantes. “I wish that they would be more trained officers that know how to deal with disabilities.”

She and a group of demonstrators gathered outside the Hall of Justice downtown on Monday afternoon, some carrying signs that said “Justice for Isaias.”

The Cudahy City Council on Tuesday called for independent investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and the California attorney general. The council also requested that the deputies involved in the shooting be removed from patrol duties in the city.

...

Judy Mark, who runs Disability Voices United, a group that advocates for people with disabilities, said she also helps train police officers on how to approach people with mental disabilities. She said that after the shooting of Cervantes, she has decided she no longer can participate in those training sessions. Unarmed mental health experts, she said, should respond to calls involving mental health issues instead of the police.

“I’m done with the collaboration — we have to create a different way. There is just too much resistance to reform,” said Mark, who has a 24-year-old son with autism. “As families we do not feel safe in reaching out to 911 or police for any circumstance where we may need assistance, so there’s got to be a better way.”

FBI Questionnaire Aids in Finding Missing Autistic Kids

The Politics of Autism discusses the problem of wandering, which has been the topic of legislation.

A release from the FBI:

The search for a missing 6-year-old with autism in 2018 left a profound impression on the North Carolina community where the boy went missing—and on the FBI’s teams that specialize in finding children who suddenly disappear.

Since then, a special agent on the FBI team that assisted in the search for Maddox has developed a one-page questionnaire for investigators to use when a child with autism goes missing.

“I wanted to make sure that if I had another opportunity, I’d be ready,” said Special Agent James Granozio, who works in the Bureau’s Charlotte Field Office and also leads one of the FBI’s four regional Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) Teams. These teams are composed of agents, intelligence analysts, operational specialists, and behavioral analysts who deploy on short notice when police departments request FBI assistance in missing child cases.

After the Maddox case, Granozio learned all he could about autism and autistic children, reaching out to local and national organizations for information. The feedback led to the development of the checklist of baseline questions that Granozio said should be asked immediately of parents or caregivers of missing autistic children.

“I want to know from the family early on: Does the child have a tracking mechanism? Is the child afraid of water or do they like water? If they like water, do they know how to swim?” said Granozio. “What about traveling at night? Is the child scared at night? Will they hunker down or will they like to move? All these things I want to know early on, and hopefully we can save a life.”
...

The questionnaire has been circulated among the FBI’s CARD Team, which includes approximately 75 members in FBI field offices across the country. They, in turn, have distributed the material to local law enforcement agencies during training exercises on child abductions and joint search and rescue operations. The CARD Team holds multiple table-top-style exercises every year to prepare local law enforcement on how to properly respond to the infrequent events.
...

When the CARD Team deploys, Bedford said, trainings provided to our law enforcement partners have proven to be particularly beneficial because everyone already knows how to work alongside the CARD Team. “So when the CARD Team comes in, the lead investigative agency doesn’t need to waste time developing a plan, they’ve got a very effective playbook that they can roll out immediately. And I think local departments really appreciate that.”

Law and Neurodiversity

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the neurodiversity movement.    I also note that we ought to have more comparative studies of autism politics and policy.

I read this book in manuscript.  It is a terrific and much-needed contribution to the field.

From the University of British Columbia Press:

Law and Neurodiversity: Youth with Autism and the Juvenile Justice Systems in Canada and the United States
By Dana Lee Baker, Laurie A. Drapela, and Whitney Littlefield


As social perceptions of diversity become more nuanced, awareness of the prevalence of autism has grown. But how do we accommodate natural human neurodiversity within the juvenile justice system? And what are the consequences for young people?

Law and Neurodiversity offers invaluable guidance on how autism research can inform and improve juvenile justice policies in Canada and the United States. Both countries rely on decentralized systems of governance to craft and implement law and policy, but their treatment of detained youth with autism differs substantively. This perceptive book examines the history of institutionalization, the evolution of disability rights, and advances in juvenile justice that explicitly incorporate considerations of neurological difference into court practice. In Canada, the diversion of delinquent autistic youth away from formal processing has fostered community-based strategies for them under state authority in its place. US policies rely more heavily on formal responses, often employing detention in juvenile custody facilities. These differing approaches profoundly affect how crucial services such as education are delivered to youth on the autism spectrum.

Building on a rigorous exploration of how assessment tools, rehabilitation programs, and community re-entry plans differ between the two countries, Law and Neurodiversity offers a much-needed comparative analysis of autism and juvenile justice policies on both sides of the forty-ninth parallel.

Scholars and students of socio-legal studies, criminology, and disability studies will find this book essential reading, as will policy analysts and policymakers in juvenile justice and frontline workers working with autistic youth in the justice system.

Civil Rights Data from the Department of Education

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the educational and civil rights of people with autism and other disabilities. 

From the Department of Education:

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today released the 2015-16 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). This data, which is self-reported by 17,300 public school districts and 96,400 public schools and educational programs, is collected and published biennially by OCR. 

Since 1968, the federal government has collected civil rights data about schools. For the first time, the 2015-16 CRDC report includes comprehensive data regarding incidents of criminal offenses in our nation's public schools. It also includes several new categories of data on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) course taking.

...

The Department used CRDC data to produce topic-specific data briefs on two major topics: STEM Course Taking and School Climate and Safety.

The full CRDC data set is available at: https://www2.ed.gov/ocr/docs/crdc-2015-16.html

Students with disabilities made up 12 percent of student enrollment. The School Climate and Saftey brief reports they accounted for

• 28 percent of students referred to law enforcement or arrested,
• 71 percent of all students restrained and 66 percent of all students secluded,
• 26 percent of students who received an out-of-school suspension,
• 24 percent of students who received an expulsion.

Civil Rights, Disabilities, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the educational and civil rights of people with autism and other disabilities. 

At Education Week, Christina Samuels reports on a session of the US Commission on Civil Rights:

The name of the session, "The School-to-Prison Pipeline: The Intersections of Students of Color with Disabilities," offered a clue to the stance of some panelists who spoke before the bipartisan commission: That too many students with disabilities are being placed in special education, and once there, they face punitive discipline that puts many of them on a rocky path to incarceration.

"We can't afford to ignore this problem," said Eve Hill, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's civil rights division. "We're wasting the talents and skills of tens of thousands of children every year."

But that wasn't a view shared by every panelist, nor by every commissioner. Peter Kirsanow, the only Republican on the commission, said that efforts by the federal government to reduce suspensions and expulsions have led to "unlawful quotas." He also asked if keeping disruptive students in school had a negative impact on the students who remained.

"The most vulnerable cohort would be students with disabilities," Kirsanow said, referring to other research on the high rates of bullying toward students in special education.

At US News, Lauren Camera reports on DeVos's review of Education Department rules.

Two of those regulations are at the heart of the current civil rights spat.

The first is a 2014 regulation aimed at stemming the school-to-prison pipeline by prodding schools to reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions of students of color and students with disabilities, both of whom receive such disciplinary actions at disproportionately high rates.

According to the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, among the 2.6 million students suspended each year, black boys are three times more like than white boys to be suspended, black girls are six times more likely than white girls to be suspended, and students with disabilities are more than twice as likely as their peers to be suspended.

The second regulation, issued in 2016, established a more standardized method for how states calculate the threshold at which the percentage of black students classified as disabled becomes a "significant disproportionality" – a benchmark that triggers mandatory spending requirements for a portion of federal funds a district receives. The goal of the guidance, which is set to go into effect for the 2018-2019 school year, was to create a way to better monitor the long-held notion that students of color are identified as having learning disabilities at a greater rate than white students.

DeVos has not signaled whether her department is leaning toward repealing the regulations entirely, but she recently met with critics of the 2014 school discipline guidance and also recently published in the Federal Register a notice seeking comment on whether or not the compliance date for the 2016 regulation should be delayed until 2020.

Law Enforcement as an End Run Around IDEA

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between police and autistic people. 

The recent arrest of an autistic 10-year old in Florida highlights the relationship of education and law enforcement. David Perry writes at CNN:

Samantha Crane, a lawyer and director of public policy for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, said that schools should at least develop "behavior intervention plans" to ameliorate situations like this, although often such plans are too "coercive" in design.

Why are schools so reliant on law enforcement? Crane told me that she and other disability rights advocates are worried that schools are using law enforcement to sidestep compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which was passed to ensure that students with disabilities received appropriate services and education.

She said, "By referring a kid to law enforcement, the school can bypass IDEA's procedures for suspension and expulsion of kids with disabilities."

If a behavior is determined to be disability-related, the school must address it as an educational issue. But, she said, "There's no such requirement when referring a kid to law enforcement. Schools are actually telling teachers and paraprofessionals to press charges against students, in order to get the students out of their class."

Autistic Hacker

The Smoking Gun reports:

In an effort to identify leaders of Anonymous, the FBI arrested an autistic New York man and then used him as a cooperating witness to help snare a notorious fellow hacker who was subsequently indicted for his central role in a series of high-profile online attacks, The Smoking Gun has learned.

In return for the hacker’s cooperation--and in light of his autism--Department of Justice officials initially agreed to defer prosecution on a criminal complaint charging the man with hacking Gawker Media, an illegal incursion that yielded registration information for more than a million individuals who signed up with the popular blog network.

Federal prosecutors eventually dropped the hacking charge altogether, according to court records that were kept under seal long after the hacker’s arrest by a team of FBI agents. Investigators were concerned that if the man’s cooperation became public, he would be harassed by hackers then being targeted by the FBI. Additionally, disclosure of his cooperation, prosecutors contended, “would jeopardize substantial ongoing investigations into the defendant’s former co-conspirators, many of whom are suspected of carrying out substantial computer hacks against several businesses.”

So, to “help ensure the defendant’s safety,” Thomas “Eekdacat” Madden became, for a time, “John Doe.”

The 26-year-old Madden, whose cooperation has not been previously disclosed, lives with his parents in Troy, a city 10 minutes outside Albany. An only child, Madden graduated in December 2010 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he completed a double major in computer science and mathematics, according to school records.

Autism and Ethics

Previous posts have discussed ethical issues related to autism. Stephen Post and colleagues have an article in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders: "Brief Report: Stony Brook Guidelines on the Ethics of the Care of People with Autism and Their Families."  Here is the abstract:

The increased prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), with associated societal and clinical impacts, calls for a broad community-based dialogue on treatment related ethical and social issues. The Stony Brook Guidelines, based on a community dialogue process with affected individuals, families and professionals, identify and discuss the following topics: treatment goals and happiness, distributive justice, managing the hopes for a cure, sibling responsibilities, intimacy and sex, diagnostic ethics, and research ethics. Our guidelines, based not on “top-down” imposition of professional expertise but rather on “bottom-up” grass roots attention to the voices of affected individuals and families speaking from experience, can inform clinical practice and are also meaningful for the wider social conversation emerging over the treatment of individuals with ASD.

Parts of the Stony Brook Guidelines deal directly with public policy:

Ultimately, treatment and access to care for individuals with an ASD should not be a chance consequence of geography, local politics, community resources, health insurance, birth or the ability of parents to advocate effectively, though this set of circumstances is hardly unique to autism. The concern raised by our group members that is specific to autism is the window of opportunity for early interventions that might substantially improve intellectual, social, and emotional functioning across a lifetime. A sense and practice of fairness needs to be developed such that all children with disabilities are provided with services appropriate to their need, with an understanding that the autism community should consider joining with larger movements in advocating for access to educational and medical services. This requires the ability to establish reliable measures of severity of disability and an appropriate range of services that would address each individual‘s needs. Setting mandates for evaluation and service is obviously a contentious issue but such a model could begin to address the need for fairness as well as justice. Ideally parents would not need to be advocating so intensively for their own child‘s needs if they were assured that services were provided on a reasoned and logical basis across all settings.

To reach these goals our group recommends a much fuller listing and description of evidence-based medical requirements for evaluation and treatment of individuals with autism. To establish a fair and measurable system would be complex. An imperfect but fairer service model has been developed in the Early Intervention (zero to three years) Assessment and Treatment programs in New York state. This program does not employ diagnosis-driven interventions (except in some regions for Autism) but assesses five areas of development (speech, cognition, sensory, motor, emotional/behavioral), establishing degree of delay in development of each functional area and allowing specialists to treat those delays which are of clear significance. Without further discussion it can be seen that there could be a structured model for assessment and treatment of autism that incorporates measurable function and defined goals but will have to adapt to great variation in clinical presentation and outcome. Equally such a model would have to evaluate need across a community with regard to costs and resources and has the potential for difficult decisions in relation to where to place resources. For example, some might argue paradoxically that programs need to be more intense for children who have characteristics that might predict better outcome, as is done in fields like stroke rehabilitation. We need to define the concrete treatment needs of this population as well as how to most efficiently and most effectively provide the services required to meet them. Clearer standards are needed to be explicitly and fully stated across the spectrum and the life span.

A number of our core group expressed a need to discuss the issues for individuals with ASD in the institutional justice system of the law. For those working in clinical service, most will be aware of young adults who come into contact with the law because of poor social awareness and judgment, social and communication deficits, association with and exploitation by inappropriate peers, potentially dangerous public emotional outbursts, inappropriate behaviors driven by their internal preoccupations (e.g., impersonating railway employee to gain access to his fixation on trains), or highly inappropriate sexual behavior due to naiveté or inability to relate appropriately. The community reaction is highly variable but there is a need to educate all within the legal system about this group of disorders. The role of the clinician is commonly to provide this education, to strongly advocate for treatment (not incarceration), and establish that the behaviors presented are features of a clinical disorder. One difficulty that commonly arises, because of the nature of the individual‘s presentation, is the belief of some members of the legal system that even if he or she does have a ASD that this does not excuse their actions nor exclude facing the consequences. Community education is needed, including for police.

Marine Recruit with ASD Appeals Court-Martial

Michael Doyle reports at McClatchy Newspapers:

Los Angeles native Joshua D. Fry had been diagnosed as autistic and was living in a group home for people with mental disabilities when a Marine Corps recruiter signed him up for service.

Fry's enlistment three years ago helped the recruiter meet his quota. It turned out far worse for Fry, who ended up being court-martialed on child pornography and other charges. Now his fate is posing a mind-boggling question for military judges:

Was Fry never really in the Marine Corps in the first place?

Citing his autism and a reported IQ of 70, Fry's attorneys say he lacked the mental capacity to enter into an enlistment contract. If they're right, it means that Fry wasn't a Marine even while attending boot camp and infantry school. He always was a civilian, immune to military prosecution.

Fry's "enlistment contract was void, (so) he was never subject to court-martial jurisdiction," Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian L. Mizer, Fry's attorney, declared in a legal brief.

The blog of the National Institute of Military Justice offers more legal detail:

The appellant’s brief sets forth a sad history of appellant’s upbringing, many run-ins with law enforcement and social services agencies, and the eventual appointment of a limited conservatorship. This history forms the basis for the appellant’s incapacity to contract and therefore incapacity to enlist. The brief challenges the N-MCCA’s finding that the appellant retained the right to enter into contracts under the conservatorship as an inaccurate interpretation of California law, and cites federal firearms prosecutions for the principle that federal courts should look to state law determinations of capacity.

The government’s brief restates the position that the appellant retained the capacity to contract under state law, but also argues that a state cannot bind the federal government’s authority to enlist under the provisions of Article 2, UCMJ. The government then parses the Article 2 standard (summarized as: enlist voluntarily and have the capacity to understand the significance of the enlistment) to support the position that the appellant had the capacity to enlist, or that his conduct resulted in a constructive enlistment.

In the reply brief, the appellant attacks the government’s position through analysis and interpretation of 10 U.S.C. § 504 and 505, which list disqualifications from enlistment.

Law Enforcement and Autism

Once again, the collision of autism and law enforcement has resulted in an unhappy story, this time in Stafford, Virginia. See A Voice for Neli.

Database for First Responders

The San Diego County Sheriff has an innovative way of dealing with the often-problematic interaction with first responders and people with autism and other disabilities. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports:

The regional law enforcement database identifies those with autism, dementia or other mental disabilities in the region and lets officers know how to best deal with their disabilities when encounters occur.

“For any kind of first-responder, they know that when they get there, they’re going to find something a little bit different,” said Cary, president of the local Autism Society of America chapter.

The program also makes it easier to find lost or missing at-risk people and uses facial recognition software to identify those who cannot speak or have dementia.

Reports of missing at-risk individuals have increased by 12 percent over the past year, the Sheriff’s Department reported. Also, six in every 10 Alzheimer’s patients will wander off at some point in their disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Brian Herritt, a police officer at Palomar College, came up with the idea for the program after his own autistic son, also named Brian, wandered off one day as he was unloading groceries.

The Autism Society of America has more here on the program, "Take Me Home."