From Newsday:

When first responders and police without training in autism encounter someone with the neurological disorder, the call could end in tragedy, a panel of parents and other experts said this week.

The panel provided special training to private security workers, ambulance and fire crews at police headquarters on Long Island.

“Autism is a condition that sometimes looks like a crime,” said panelist James Mulvaney, a former Newsday staffer whose son, Dan, 20, has the disorder. “But a seizure is not an assault.”

To protect people with autism from harm, tips were offered on how to identify signs of the disorder and guidelines on proper responses.

Related column from the Huffington Post, which says the Long Island gathering was “one of the first of its kind in the country.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 6:46 am and is filed under autism, law enforcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.