I'm pretty excited to hear that a voluntary autism registry will be taking place in our city of Belleville on May 29. I think it's an extremely important step that allows emergency responders to know vital information about your child with autism that may one day save him or her from a life and death situation. Here's a scenario of a mother (The Globe and Mail article) who had to call the police because her son was chasing her around the kitchen with a knife one day. Panicked calls brought the police to her home almost immediately. But they didn't charge inside with guns drawn or loud aggressive explosive sounds or shouting at the boy to drop the knife. From the information gathered on the child in the registry, the police knew that talking about hockey calms the boy so that's what they did. They arrived and dealt with the situation with a hockey talk. What a story!! The situation could have ended in a horrible mess, possibly in the death of the boy shot by the police. But prior information on the boy helped the police to come better prepared with the tool they needed with this unique situation. This is something that could happen during a fire. The child might hide himself out of sheer fear and being overwhelmed by the smoke, loud shrieking of the fire alarms or people screaming. He might even arm himself and attack the responders. The child also might not want to come out with the firefighter, might not want to be touched or carried out. When he does come out, he might bolt or wander away when people are not paying attention. All of these possible scenarios could be avoided when the child is on placed on the autism registry. The information on the registry would also allow other community agencies such as the Red Cross at the scene to let them properly assess the family situation and their child's needs in terms of accommodation and continued care and support. Same thing with a child/teen with autism at school, who for whatever reason has escalated behaviourally to the point where the police had to be called. When the police arrives, they would have enough information on him to help in the de-escalation instead of jumping into the situation, which easily put both parties in danger. This kind of preparation will no doubt help the child as well as the emergency responders deal with the situation effectively and quickly. Read more on the topic and its advantages here http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/registries-of-autistic-children-arm-police-with-information/article4085778/
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