Ypsilanti,MI – Retired Lansing, Michigan police officer Scott Schuelke used his 25 years of law enforcement experience to train 10,000 people at 300 seminars for three years. The seminars educated police, fire fighters and first responders on what autism spectrum disorder is and how best to interact with someone with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
“We’re teaching (first-responders) how to communicate, how to interact, how to work with a family member or care provider,” Schuelke told Chron. In addition to the seminars Schuelke is now an autism safety specialist with the Autism Alliance of Michigan. The seminars are proving to be real beneficial.
Novi, Michigan police sergeant Mark Boody wishes he had attended the seminar sooner. Boody told the Chron,
“After the training, thinking back, ‘Wow. I bet that person (I encountered) could be someone with autism.’ Now, knowing that ahead of time, we’re just not going to automatically assume the negative.”
Recent studies have found that people with autism often get in contact with the law in various ways, some negative, some scary, like Kelly Roberts.
Her ten-year-old son Blake on the spectrum suddenly wandered off a few years ago when his mother was tending to his much younger sibling upstairs. A search party made up of police dogs, family, and friends thankfully found Blake at a lake. He was brought home safely before going in.
This is no surprise to Schuelke who often teaches that people autism are drawn to water.
Source: Mike Householder on the Chron news website: Retired officer gives autism safety talk across US
Contributed by Audrey L. Hollingshead