While we will always handle help requests for all ages, helping you access needed care, education, and resources, we also push into some very uncomfortable areas related to at risk adults. Connecting families or people seeking evaluations, therapists, equipment – that’s our foundation.  And so you might wonder, if you notice us posting about unexpected disability concepts in courts, jails, or police training – have we gotten off track?

There is constant growth and change in the autism world, on an individual level, and on a societal one.  Knowledge has come a long way since the late ’90’s when the National Institutes of Health first started funding meaningful research showing how the brain with autism works.  During decades since we have seen better access to education, jobs, housing, medical specialists, and more understanding in general.  This has not solved funding shortages, but if knowledge and understanding are power, when used responsibly by society, autistic people are much better off than they were in the not so distant past.

I’ve had the opportunity to watch some of my earliest child-clients grow well into adulthood.  Their processes have been positive, joyous, heartbreaking, boring, remarkable, surprising and expected – just like life outcomes for nonautistic people! Folks are out at work or play, learning and living in society.  And the risks faced by those who may move or sound different, or who could fall prey to people taking advantage of them, are very alarming and occur in patterns that we cannot ignore. Being in the community means one’s presence is seen, heard, and felt, which can result in bad outcomes if the neuro-overflows of autism are misunderstood for something criminal.  Arrest, jail, and prison can and do result. So we work to prevent bad outcomes in these areas.

“Autistic people in jail?  No way… ”  is a common reaction when I bring up this subject to regular disability folks or people who ask what I do for work.  And I say to them “Yes, way!”  Cute little kids with autism grow into adults who get misjudged.  People we help have been arrested for: hitting a nurse defensively while getting stitches (this is not unusual), resisting arrest when police tried to force a man back into a hospital bed, stealing candy from a gas station under threat of lynching by strangers, accidentally trespassing while playing Pokemon Go, entering an occupied building at night after a neighbor said “come back any time,” and any number of computer crimes that a person with autism was unaware were illegal when done in their own home.  This is not counting people who have been used by others, like those asked to drive someone around while they are doing illegal things, often having their loneliness and desire for friends taken advantage of.  And we cannot forget those who fall in love and have not learned how their “I have a crush on you” behaviors look like stalking, even without criminal intent.

Alongside tenacious advocacy partners both local and statewide, we delve into the worst case scenarios with people in need, and we hope we can help them handle the nightmares of incarceration or equally terrible – the victimization of those with disabilities by malicious people. We do this with “the littles” in mind – the kids we helped when they were tiny, your young ones now, the children in your schools and neighborhoods. Focus on intense things like law enforcement training, developing attorney referral lists, educating judges, magistrates, and hearing officers, working inside jail and prison systems, and helping craft public policies and practices to keep people safe – this is all done to create a better world. We work to save people caught in systems that punish them at times for their disabilities, and make every effort to prevent similar bad outcomes for future generations.

So thank you for your support and patience as we plow through issues, often one case at a time, and use what we learn to make a better world for you and your loved one.  While we may teach and post about serious adult issues at times more than childhood topics, please know that we do this with your needs in mind.