Behavioural difficulties mean autistic people might be stopped by police – and when questioned their lack of understanding could be mistaken for a refusal to co-operate.
That's why Hampshire Autistic Society and police are developing an autism ale
rt card to notify police and other emergency services if the encounter people with the condition.
If officers encounter anyone with the condition they can be shown the card and recognise they may find it harder to communicate with that person.
Hampshire Autistic Society's project manager for outreach Karen Templeton-Mepstead said: 'Autism causes all sorts of communication problems and sometimes someone on the autistic spectrum behaves a bit strangely.
'They can, therefore, quite often get stopped by police.
'Because their communication skills differ somewhat from ours they often don't understand what they've been asked or they won't give their name or they act strangely towards the police.
'The alert card is so they can show the police they have a condition.
'The officer will be able to speak to the person in an appropriate way and hopefully there will also be contact details so an appropriate person can be contacted.
'If the person doesn't hand over the card and are taken into custody the card will be discovered at that time.'
Hampshire's card is to be based on one already used in Essex, the West Midlands and Strathclyde in Scotland.
The exact management and content of the cards has yet to be decided but it is thought proof of diagnosis will be needed before the card is issued.
It is likely applications will be made to the association with police picking up the bill for scheme.
The full article contains 298 words and appears in NS-City newspaper.
