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<\/p>\nKate Movius moved among a roomful of Los Angeles County sheriff\u2019s deputies, passing out a pop trivia quiz and paper prism glasses.<\/p>\n
She told them to put on the vision-distorting glasses, and to write with their nondominant hand. As they filled out the tests, Movius moved about the City of Industry classroom pounding abruptly on tables. Then came the cowbell. An aide flashed the overhead lights on and off at random. The goal was to help the deputies understand the feeling of sensory overwhelm, which many autistic people experience when incoming stimulation exceeds their capacity to process.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what can you do to assist somebody, or de-escalate somebody, or get information from someone who suffers from a sensory disorder?\u201d Movius asked the rattled crowd afterward. \u201cWe can minimize sensory input. … That might be the difference between them being able to stay calm and them taking off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Movius, founder of the consultancy Autism Interaction Solutions, is one of a growing number of people around the U.S. working to teach law enforcement agencies to recognize autistic behaviors and ensure that encounters between neurodevelopmentally disabled people and law enforcement end safely.<\/p>\n
She and City of Industry Mayor Cory Moss later passed out bags filled with tools donated by the city to aid interactions: a pair of noise-damping headphones to decrease auditory input, a whiteboard, a set of communication cards with words and images to point to, fidget toys to calm and distract.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing about autistic behavior when it comes to law enforcement is a lot of it may look suspicious, and a lot of it may feel very disrespectful,\u201d said Movius, who is also the parent of an autistic 25-year-old man. Responding officers, she said, \u201care not coming in thinking, \u2018Could this be a developmentally disabled person?\u2019 I would love for them to have that in the back of their minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A sheriff\u2019s deputy reads a pamphlet on autism during the training program.<\/p>\n
(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Autism spectrum disorder<\/a> is a developmental condition that manifests differently in nearly every person who has it. Symptoms cluster around difficulties in communication, social interaction and sensory processing.<\/p>\n An autistic person stopped by police might hold the officer\u2019s gaze intensely or not look at them at all. They may repeat a phrase from a movie, repeat the officer\u2019s question or temporarily lose their ability to speak. They might flee.<\/p>\n All are common involuntary responses for an autistic person in a stressful situation, which a sudden encounter with law enforcement almost invariably is. To someone unfamiliar with the condition, all could be mistaken for intoxication, defiance or guilt.<\/p>\n Autism rates in the U.S. have increased nearly fivefold since the Centers for Disease Control began tracking diagnoses in 2000, a rise experts attribute<\/a> to broadening diagnostic criteria and better efforts to identify children who have the condition.<\/p>\n The CDC now estimates<\/a> that 1 in 31 U.S. 8-year-olds is autistic. In California, the rate is closer to<\/a> 1 in 22 children.<\/p>\n As diverse as the autistic population is, people across the spectrum are more likely to be stopped by law enforcement than neurotypical peers.<\/p>\n About 15% of all people in the U.S. ages 18 to 24 have been stopped by police at some point in their lives, according to federal data<\/a>. While the government doesn\u2019t track encounters for disabled people specifically, a separate study<\/a> found that 20% of autistic people ages 21 to 25 have been stopped, often after a report or officer observation of a person behaving unusually.<\/p>\n Some of these encounters have ended in tragedy.<\/p>\n In 2021, Los Angeles County sheriff\u2019s deputies shot and permanently paralyzed a deaf autistic man after family members called 911 for help getting him to a hospital.<\/p>\n Isaias Cervantes, 25, had become distressed about a shopping trip and started pushing his mother, his family\u2019s attorney said at the time<\/a>. He resisted as two deputies attempted to handcuff him and one of the deputies shot him, according to a county report<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2024, Ryan Gainer\u2019s family called 911 for support when the 15-year-old became agitated. Responding San Bernardino County sheriff\u2018s deputies shot and killed<\/a> him outside his Apple Valley home.<\/p>\n Last year, police in Pocatello, Idaho, shot Victor Perez, 17, through a chain-link fence after the nonspeaking teenager did not heed their shouted commands. He died from his injuries<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n Sheriff\u2019s deputies take a trivia quiz using their non-writing hands, while wearing vision-distorting glasses, as Kate Movius, standing left, and Industry Mayor Cory Moss, right, ring cowbells. The idea was to help them understand the sensory overwhelm some autistic people experience.<\/p>\n (Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n![\"Autism](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771944010_106_.jpeg\")
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