The Nest — #autismawareness

Tuesday morning, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Tim Purdy was adamant about reminding people the viral photo he posted Friday was evidence of a situation that’s not uncommon for police officers. “I don’t think anything I did was out of the ordinary. It just happened it got caught on camera and went to Facebook,” Purdy said.  "There’s more to policing than making arrests and enforcing the law. Sometimes taking those extra little steps makes the biggest difference in someone’s life," the post read.  The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer has gone viral after he reportedly helped a high school student who has autism. Tuesday morning,...

  When a team of fire fighters responds to a call, there is usually a dangerous situation at hand. Upon reaching the scene it is critical for these first responders to immediately get to work in order to keep the people in these situations safe. When encountering a person with an autism spectrum disorder, the fire fighters may need to adjust their emergency response accordingly. In situations where the individual may be at risk, it is vital that the fire fighters be able to identify certain signs that may indicate that the person has ASD. The proper training and knowledge...

A first responder is seven times more likely to come in contact with an individual with autism than the average person By Fire Captain John M. SokolPrevent-educate.org Knowing that an emergency situation involves an individual with autism is important, from the dispatcher to the first responders on scene. When the dispatcher includes the phrase "the individual has autism," what is going to be your reaction?Is autism something you just heard about or are you prepared for a situation that will be unique and unpredictable? The answer could mean the difference of injury or death to the first responder or individual,...

Brothers and sisters, we are losing. We can argue about the reasons why; we can argue about the biased media, unreasonable expectations, poor self-promotion. But the brutal truth I’ve seen is many individuals with special needs and their families are afraid to call us when they need help. They are afraid we will hurt them. They are afraid we will judge them. They are afraid we will take their children away. That is both tragic and unacceptable to me, and I hope it is unacceptable to you, too. This is difficult for me to say, but in all honesty I’m...