Hey, at least I didn’t email yer wife!

The Frau Doktor Professor has my email addy, and I hereby ask her to tell you it, and you to write to me.

P.s. I think your last few posts are quite deep, weird, and profound, and should be read by everybody.

I had a really rough incident two weeks ago going to pick up my kids from grandma’s house; I was pulled over and given a summons for running a stop sign. I do not run stop signs. In fact, I’m a really irritating driver in that I’m a bit obsessed with traffic laws and posted speed limits (I’m also a hypermiler, and follow a book’s worth of gas-mileage-maximizing tips).

It was a scary incident because the officer was really impatient with me (he was ticketing every third car or so, my husband says it’s because it was the last day of the month), I was alone, and I got really… stymied. I really couldn’t move on from the experience, and spent about forty minutes on the side of the road on the phone with my husband. We were really trying to figure out what I should do if the situation got tense (I was technically not properly parked, but didn’t feel capable of driving off, and was definitely in a repetitive-speech-loop).

I was very preoccupied with what was going on, but talking to over later, I found out that my husband was terrified that something would happen with the police thinking I was behaving strangely, defiantly, or something like that (I really should have been concerned as well). We settled that I would stay on the phone with him until things were all right, and if the policeman approached again, I would try to have him take the phone so my husband could explain. I don’t know if that would have worked. Luckily, he accepted the apparent story: This woman has never been pulled over before, is upset, and needs to talk to her husband on the phone at the side of the road for a while. But can you imagine if he had decided I was drunk, or crazy? I really don’t think I could have followed a line of questioning, had he chosen to pursue one.

Since then, husband and I have discussed a medic-alert necklace (I should have one anyway for other reasons) and one of those little laminated cards one carries in one’s wallet. I’d love to hear other ideas, just as I’d love some sort of non-patronizing, non-pathologizing training for dealing with such situations.

Rory does have a guest book at his website, http://www.chirontraining.com.

Oh, and it ain’t just auties who get tased for no good reason these days.

Somebody wrote, somewhere, that 40% of police are those who got bullied in school and want revenge, another 40% are those who were bullies in school and see police work as a dream come true, and 20% are honest virtuous people

Shoot first, ask later.

Gets people a fucking long way forward.

Not.

Excuse language, but I have had my fill of authorised boddies of late.

@Dina Dadian,
“Mainstream school’s teachers should be aware of special-needs people being present in on their watch. Are they? Are substitutes being informed? People should be regularly trained for basic, special ways to handle things when they get out of control.”

Currently there is 1 extra staff member in my son’s special ed room, so even when someone is sick, there are enough instructors. In the past, though, a sub could be anyone and this was often incredibly difficult (and sometimes disastrous). Just today, I met with a music teacher at my son’s school; even just telling her to speak minimally and in a straightforward way without a lot of open-ended questions was a big help.

Education is critical not just to first-responders (medical and law enforcement personnel), but also to the people in control of environment. Clearing the room of other people could have been far more effective then any violent force. It probably would’ve disrupted the school day way less then tasing and all the media coverage that followed.

Mainstream school’s teachers should be aware of special-needs people being present in on their watch. Are they? Are substitutes being informed? People should be regularly trained for basic, special ways to handle things when they get out of control.

Whether folks like it or not, special needs people are facts of life. The numbers are rising. Education is key – to everyone around, not just the special ed teachers: classmates, librarians, janitors. At least a briefing… There are ways to deail with public display of uncontrolable behavior – regardless if a child (and at 15 years old he is still a child) is on the autistic spectrum or not. Tasing should not be acceptable altogether.

- Mom of a 5 1/2 years old boy with PDD NOS

I thought that needed repeating.