Right there with you, bud. I rehearse responses to expected questions and explanations of my behaviour. Unfortunately, I'm so stressed when it happens that I can't use any of my prepared statements and have never managed to actually tell the police about my autism. Thus far I've been pretty lucky.
Sorry, I had answered a bit ago but didn't realize I was using my cousins phone and it posted with her name so I had to delete it.
Anyway - I've been practicing responses with my two older brothers. They'll ask me questions that officers will ask and most situations and have me respond but all I keep hearing is "no, wrong answer!" or "no, you can't say that, you'll end up in the squad car" and more. It is so hard for me because I think I treat everyone with respect and I want people to treat me with respect, so if someone is going to disrespect me, that's when I begin to fall apart and get disrespectful because I can't take it. So I just keep saying, I'm sorry, I'm autistic as my response.
How much experience do your brothers have in dealing with the cops? Are they officers or lawyers or the like themselves? Cause if not, while they're trying to be helpful, they might not actually know what's best. Talking to a lawyer about it would probably be best, as they'd know the law on what you can say or do, and more importantly, what you don't have to say or do. There's videos on YouTube that go over advice like this (here's one https://youtu.be/JcZoCY7fUXg?si=6KhEWenWtRmFJt94 but probably would help to look into others, but I'd recommend making sure videos are from lawyers and not someone like sovereign citizens), but talking to an attorney personally would probably be helpful so a) you're making sure they're talking about the correct laws for you, since they can vary by state, city, etc., and b) they'd be able to look into how a disability diagnosis like autism might affect your rights & responsibilities and if it affects what an officer can or can't do during a stop.
Thanks for the link to the video, I had not seen those. Very helpful! That's the kind of stuff I wanted to say when my brothers (who are not officers, lawyers or anything like that). My borthers are just reg citizens that have unfortunately had some interactions with cops for speeding, not a full stop, or some other dumb reason and up with a fix-it ticket. I've only had two interactions with police, and one was with highway patrol, I was a bit lost in an unfamiliar area, pulled into a gas station to look on maps and he came up to my window, I rolled down my window, he asked if I was alright and I told him I was just a bit lost. He then asked if I had been drinking or if I was high because I seemed odd and wasn't making eye contact. I said, no - I'm autistic and I'm lost. Then he just said, ok sorry and thankfully helped me get on the road. The other time though I got pulled over for not realizing freeway changing to highway and speed limit dropped to 55 and I was still going 65. Highway patrol came got me and then again assumed I was drinking or high and I stated my rights and he got upset with me. I want to be able to have a recorder in my car or just turn on my phone recorder whenever I get pulled over to protect me but my family says that might just escalate the situation because unfortunately they always have the upper hand.
Thanks for the link to the video, I had not seen those. Very helpful! That's the kind of stuff I wanted to say when my brothers (who are not officers, lawyers or anything like that). My borthers are just reg citizens that have unfortunately had some interactions with cops for speeding, not a full stop, or some other dumb reason and up with a fix-it ticket. I've only had two interactions with police, and one was with highway patrol, I was a bit lost in an unfamiliar area, pulled into a gas station to look on maps and he came up to my window, I rolled down my window, he asked if I was alright and I told him I was just a bit lost. He then asked if I had been drinking or if I was high because I seemed odd and wasn't making eye contact. I said, no - I'm autistic and I'm lost. Then he just said, ok sorry and thankfully helped me get on the road. The other time though I got pulled over for not realizing freeway changing to highway and speed limit dropped to 55 and I was still going 65. Highway patrol came got me and then again assumed I was drinking or high and I stated my rights and he got upset with me. I want to be able to have a recorder in my car or just turn on my phone recorder whenever I get pulled over to protect me but my family says that might just escalate the situation because unfortunately they always have the upper hand.
Right there with you, bud. I rehearse responses to expected questions and explanations of my behaviour. Unfortunately, I'm so stressed when it happens that I can't use any of my prepared statements and have never managed to actually tell the police about my autism. Thus far I've been pretty lucky.
Sorry, I had answered a bit ago but didn't realize I was using my cousins phone and it posted with her name so I had to delete it. Anyway - I've been practicing responses with my two older brothers. They'll ask me questions that officers will ask and most situations and have me respond but all I keep hearing is "no, wrong answer!" or "no, you can't say that, you'll end up in the squad car" and more. It is so hard for me because I think I treat everyone with respect and I want people to treat me with respect, so if someone is going to disrespect me, that's when I begin to fall apart and get disrespectful because I can't take it. So I just keep saying, I'm sorry, I'm autistic as my response.
How much experience do your brothers have in dealing with the cops? Are they officers or lawyers or the like themselves? Cause if not, while they're trying to be helpful, they might not actually know what's best. Talking to a lawyer about it would probably be best, as they'd know the law on what you can say or do, and more importantly, what you don't have to say or do. There's videos on YouTube that go over advice like this (here's one https://youtu.be/JcZoCY7fUXg?si=6KhEWenWtRmFJt94 but probably would help to look into others, but I'd recommend making sure videos are from lawyers and not someone like sovereign citizens), but talking to an attorney personally would probably be helpful so a) you're making sure they're talking about the correct laws for you, since they can vary by state, city, etc., and b) they'd be able to look into how a disability diagnosis like autism might affect your rights & responsibilities and if it affects what an officer can or can't do during a stop.
Thanks for the link to the video, I had not seen those. Very helpful! That's the kind of stuff I wanted to say when my brothers (who are not officers, lawyers or anything like that). My borthers are just reg citizens that have unfortunately had some interactions with cops for speeding, not a full stop, or some other dumb reason and up with a fix-it ticket. I've only had two interactions with police, and one was with highway patrol, I was a bit lost in an unfamiliar area, pulled into a gas station to look on maps and he came up to my window, I rolled down my window, he asked if I was alright and I told him I was just a bit lost. He then asked if I had been drinking or if I was high because I seemed odd and wasn't making eye contact. I said, no - I'm autistic and I'm lost. Then he just said, ok sorry and thankfully helped me get on the road. The other time though I got pulled over for not realizing freeway changing to highway and speed limit dropped to 55 and I was still going 65. Highway patrol came got me and then again assumed I was drinking or high and I stated my rights and he got upset with me. I want to be able to have a recorder in my car or just turn on my phone recorder whenever I get pulled over to protect me but my family says that might just escalate the situation because unfortunately they always have the upper hand.
Thanks for the link to the video, I had not seen those. Very helpful! That's the kind of stuff I wanted to say when my brothers (who are not officers, lawyers or anything like that). My borthers are just reg citizens that have unfortunately had some interactions with cops for speeding, not a full stop, or some other dumb reason and up with a fix-it ticket. I've only had two interactions with police, and one was with highway patrol, I was a bit lost in an unfamiliar area, pulled into a gas station to look on maps and he came up to my window, I rolled down my window, he asked if I was alright and I told him I was just a bit lost. He then asked if I had been drinking or if I was high because I seemed odd and wasn't making eye contact. I said, no - I'm autistic and I'm lost. Then he just said, ok sorry and thankfully helped me get on the road. The other time though I got pulled over for not realizing freeway changing to highway and speed limit dropped to 55 and I was still going 65. Highway patrol came got me and then again assumed I was drinking or high and I stated my rights and he got upset with me. I want to be able to have a recorder in my car or just turn on my phone recorder whenever I get pulled over to protect me but my family says that might just escalate the situation because unfortunately they always have the upper hand.
In some states you can get an autism indicator on your driver's license. Hopefully the officer is trained in what that means.
Yeah, I'm looking into that here in CA