Autism and Police Encounters

You are out driving or walking around and a police officer stops you. What do you do? Thanks to a torrent of horror stories on the internet, this is a scary situation. Sadly, most officers don't want to take the time to understand you unless they already know you pretty well. Then there's the matter of their personal opinions of you or autism (or any medical condition). When you find yourself faced with an authority figure, there are several things to keep in mind so you can avoid being another youtube statistic.



So let us begin with a police incident. You are pulled over or stopped for questioning by police. Don't be like the man in the video. When an officer gives you an order, you may as well comply with it. In fact, DO JUST THAT. You will save yourself a great deal of pain and anguish. For that matter, if you follow a few basic steps, you can avoid even getting to the point where they want to arrest you. Give the police a hard time and you will be arrested. If they decide they are going to arrest you anyway, there is little you can do about it. So:

1: Be pleasant and answer their questions. If asked for ID, provide it or explain why you don't have it. Be honest and polite.

2: If they want to do a pat down, let them. You may see this as a violation of your rights, but we'll get to what to do about that in a moment. Be open about what you have in your pockets. You really shouldn't be carrying anything illegal anyway. Same goes for if they decide to cuff you. Don't resist them, they'll only get nastier and you'll wind up like the guy in the video. Not worth it.

3: Follow all instructions. You can file a complaint later.

4: Do not lose your cool. If you get a ticket, just take it. If you lose your cool, you will go to jail. Don't argue past stating your case for what's involved.

If you believe you have been mistreated or your rights have been violated, going Youtube on the cop is not the answer. You can have an investigation done by filing a report with the department's division of Internal Affairs. Anyone who witnesses something they feel is a violation can make such a report. But, for some reason, people would rather post Youtube videos. 

It's true that you don't have to answer their questions. You have that right, but depending on what they are investigating, you will only trigger them into an escalation. They have a job to do and the harder you make it for them to do it, the more likely you will go to jail.  In some cases you may be let go, but you waste your time being difficult like this next person:



It was obvious he wasn't drunk, but he was more interested in filming the officers and being difficult. If he simply said "no", he would have been on his way quickly. If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Why make it more difficult for everyone involved?

Finally, the best thing you can ever do, is avoid being in situations where the police are going to get interested. This requires developing a level of street smarts and I will address those in my next article.

My autistic view of equality in marriage

Maybe that's all this is; my autistic view. Maybe it's just a rant. I've had my attempts at autism education viewed as rants before; not that it stopped me. Maybe there's a hundred ways to diminish what I'm about to say, to dismiss it, belittle it. Maybe this is a bad time for me to take a stand on what I see, but I've seen too much.

There's this red equal sign for marriage equality exploding across the internet right now. I've decided I finally have something to say about this. It's like this:

We need to stop putting our hatred into things like this and turn to actual and real problems.

I'm sure I just ticked off a lot of people by saying that, but you know what... it's true and I have the comparisons to prove it.

Are you worried about your children seeing gay couples who are married? How is that any different from just being a gay couple? It's really not. They were gay before they got married and will be afterward. If you are that worried about what your kids see out in the big bad world I have a novel idea for you: EDUCATE THEM. I know, Heaven forbid we actually talk to our kids.  Apparently it's a better idea to form picket lines at funerals of gay soldiers who died for your right to congregate on the matter in the first place.

Well, before you tell me the evils of being gay I want to know something. What do you think of prostitution, drugs, gangs, drunk driving, murder, national job loss, failing educational systems, and freaking starvation in our own streets?  Maybe I'm on another planet, but it seems to me (by raw statistics) that any of those does far more damage; destroys thousands more families, and (some) even kill thousands of kids every year. Just one of those examples causes way more destruction, financial damage, and heartache than all the gay couples of our nation put together.

Oh wait, maybe it's a religious issue. Well, besides the obvious issue of separation of church and state I'd like to ask you about The Ten Commandments. You know, the ten rules set by God that we are to follow at all costs? Again, I'll point you to my bolded question above to compare which issues are actually worse.

How about the Seven Deadly Sins? You know; LUST, GLUTTONY, GREED, SLOTH, ENVY, PRIDE, and WRATH?  Where in those is there anything remotely attributed to being gay? None. Zero. Zip. Oh sure you can tell me it's an unnatural thing and a "lust" of some form; but I'll trump that with prostitution that destroys families and involves gangs, drugs, guns and murder.

Better yet, if you want a real problem in the sanctity of marriage, why don't you try tackling the national DIVORCE RATE? You know, the one thing that breaks 50% of all marriages today. You know, where some of these same people stand in a church and swear an oath to each over before the Eyes of God?  You know, only to break those oaths within two years? If you really want to "preserve the sanctity of marriage" it seems to me that would be a better place to start.

So gay people want the right to get married. What does it say about us, that we will take up picket signs and congregate is mass groups in offense at this when there are 15 far deadlier snakes in our own back yards waiting to strike us? What do you think might happen if we put that much energy into just one of those other problems? I find it mind boggling.

Rights to our opinions

This is what I recently posted at Sheboygan Press, where I get more hate mail than anywhere on the internet:

I write in a lot of places. I write on facebook, myspace, blogspot, and over 20 of the NING websites. My purpose is to make people think, educate on certain issues, and simply provide an opinion. That is a right we are all supposed to have. I have had a lot of readers in my time and still have quite a few today.

Having an opinion can be a dangerous thing to do. Standing up for the rights of others, even more so. There are a lot, and I mean a lot of hateful people out there who have nothing better to do than attack people because they don't agree with them. And hey, I understand it's a risk I take and a risk well worth it. I have helped a lot of families and I wouldn't give that up no matter what my haters have to say. I can assure you, that just by posting this, I will likely get a bunch more hateful comments calling me some very colorful things.

Well, these people need to stop and reflect for a minute. What did I ever really do to you? Did I run over your dog or something? Seriously, I don't know you (at least I don't think I do) and I'm pretty sure I've done nothing to you (I don't believe in doing unto others wrongly), so what's your issue? Does the fact that I have something to say really have to affect you that much? Why are you wasting so much time getting offended? I don't swear at anyone, I share my experiences truthfully and merely have an opinion. So why does that have to have such an affect on you? Why do you let it? I really don't understand.

I know Sheboygan has had some tough times in the last ten years or so and there is some heavy bitterness and resentment around here. I've met it face to face. I say this because, right here on Sheboygan Press, I have had triple the hateful messages and yes, even threats than anyplace else I have ever written. Not different material either, same stuff. Now I will follow that up with this: For every person who has come on here and left me a horrible remark or message, I've had someone come up to me in person to say they agree with what I have to say. So it's not a totally lopsided deal, just that there is a lot of negativity here compared to other places by my experience.

Well, I know I've said that I would use some of the nasty comments for education on the attitudes I stand against, but that doesn't work. So I'm not going to post your nasty comments anymore. If you have something to say that's concise and respectful, even if you disagree with me; I will post that. But if all you can do is call me names and get derogatory or show that you can't get a grip on any form of reason and just want to fight... forget it. I don't have to accept abuse from anyone, nor do you. And I'm not going to give up my freedom of speech just because you don't like what I have to say.