Ottawa will become the second municipality in Canada to have an autism registry, following launch of an initiative by a Centretown-based nonprofit organization and a group of concerned parents.
Autism Ontario-Ottawa, headquartered on Bronson Avenue, has been working with the Ottawa police for five years to create the registry, says Brenda Reisch, parent of an autistic child and director of Children at Risk, a separate Ottawa organization for those affected by autism.
Ottawa police Sgt. Jamie Dunlop, who is also the parent of an autistic child, says the registry – currently still a pilot project – would allow families to have “a more efficient way of getting to first responders about the best ways of dealing with their loved ones.”
First responders include police, firefighters and paramedics.
The registry “will help speed response, should there be an incident,” says Dunlop. “Officers will be able to search a databank and see photos on their laptops in their cars,” he says. “If a child has wandering tendencies, the police will be able to get a photo, to know the places where they like to go, and, if the child is nonverbal, to pull up a list of numbers to call for help.”
Reisch says the registry is necessary because people with the neurological disorder will not react like most people would in emergency situations or in interactions with the police.
“People with autism don’t have socially acceptable manners of saying what they’re feeling,” she says. “With my son, it’s like a little boy in a man’s body. There is a potential for him lashing out, and bright lights and crowds can overwhelm him.”
Reisch recalls one incident when her 17-year-old autistic son could have had a disastrous encounter with a police officer.
“He attacked one of our workers and attacked me. It was a medication issue, but the last thing I’d have wanted to do was call 911,” she says. “If you get (an officer) who doesn’t understand the disability, they might just think he’s drunk or violent. “
Parent organizer Hazel Smith emphasized that adults as well as children can have autism.
“You can have a 30-year-old who will act like a six- or 10- year- old,” she says.
The registry will be a voluntary system for parents and caregivers to register autistic people with first responders, says Smith. Parents who decide to register will submit “a very distinct description of (their) child,” Smith notes.
“Their behaviours, their fears, their sensory issues. Will a siren make them freak out? Will an officer escalate the problem by wearing a shiny badge?”
Dunlop says parents will now be able to sign their child up for the registry on the Ottawa police website. Parents are responsible for keeping photos and information up to date.
Several factors associated with the condition might make autistic people more vulnerable, parents say.
“A number of autistic children are known to be runners, and they don’t consider themselves lost when they run off,” Reisch adds, referring to a Nova Scotia case in December in which a seven-year-old boy went missing for two days and later died of hypothermia.
Soon after his death, Miramichi, N.B., launched its autism registry, Canada’s first.