Trish Ieraci:Understanding Autism Saves Lives: One Trainer's Mission to Transform Police Interactions

Welcome to Why Not Me the World? Podcast hosted by
Tony Mantor, Broadcasting from Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join
us as our guests tell us their stories. Some will
make your laugh, some will make you cry. Real life
people who will inspire and show that you are not
alone in this world. Hopefully you gain more awareness, acceptance,
and a better understanding for autism around the world. Hi,
I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Why Not Me the World?
Humanity over Handcuffed the Silent Crisis special event. Joining us
today is Trish Irasi. She founded a company named Tia
which stands for teaching individuals about autism. She possesses invaluable
insights and we are truly honored to have her on
the show. Thanks for coming on, Well, thank you for
having me, so if you would tell me a little
bit about what you do.
I am an autism awareness trainer. I specifically work with
law enforcement and I give them the tools to recognize
when somebody is under the spectrum. I give them suggestions
on how to de escalate a situation, how to handle
a situation. One of the big things that I'm finding out, Tony,
is that when I'm speaking about individuals under the spectrum,
it seems like a lot of people and I'm not
just talking law enforcement, go to those that are a
severe B that are children so well, I also educate
them that you can have Yes, those individuals that are severe,
they need the twenty four seven care three sixty five.
And then you go you have those individuals that are
getting their PhDs, they are becoming attorneys, they are becoming accountants, CPAs,
whatever and everything in between. So just because somebody presents
as being well educated, well spoken, does not automatically exclude
them from being under the spectrum. And this has happened
to individuals that I have met. They're not believed just
because they are again, like I said, well spoken, educated,
so on you know that somebody like that can't be
under the spectrum. Well, that's why it has the term
the spectrum. And again you know, making them aware of that,
like when my son was diagnosed, because my son is
twenty seven years old, that when he was diagnosed, one
of the big things was is that if they made
eye contact, they could have had any of those other
telltale signs as far as being autistic. But if they
made eye contact, datate and fall under the spectrum. We
have now come to find out that that's incorrect. And again,
you know, the understanding that somebody can travel, that somebody
can go out, that they can get jobs, they can
be well educated, you know, that they can do everything
in anything that anybody else does, and then of course
that leads them into getting into the same problems that
everybody else can possibly get into. And again that's something
that's for some in law enforcement is a little difficult,
you know, for them to understand that word of spectrum
has been used for reason because we do we have
you know, there's such a broad range, and you meet
one person with autism, you meet one person with autism.
Yes, that is so very true. Now you are creating
a bridge between the autistic community, so when they do
engage with an autistic person, they have a better understanding
on how to approach them.
Yeah. Yes, what I try to do, I do like
a three I try to do a three prong approach.
So what I'll do is I go and I will
have parents, caregivers from the area meet with law enforcement
and it's usually the chief or the captain and then
a couple of the officer's deputies, you know, depending on
what branch of law enforcement you're talking about going, We
have a meeting and it's a great exchange of information.
So you know, my son will to walk, my son
will talk to himself. These are the things that are
going to help soothe him. My son will talk about
his cat, and again, these are things that are going
to help soothe him. They tell us what to keep
on us, what to keep in our vehicles, what to
keep in our house. We'll let them know about some
of the things that we might have that, you know,
should I be involved in an accident, the individual that
is in the car seat that has the bell crow
piece strapped around it with information in regards to that individual,
that's the autistic individual. Or the stickers that we may
have on our vehicles, the stickers that we may have
on our house. How you know, they might have items
on them with a QR code that can be scanned
and that takes you to a site and tells you
about everything in regards to that individual. They don't just
have to be autistic. It could be you know, any
other thing that would help you know, law enforcement first
responders should they be called to a scene. Great exchange
of information, Okay, and then it gets for law enforcement
to meet the parents' caregivers, and again it gives the
parents caregivers time to have one on one time with
again these members from law enforcement. The second step is
is that the individual themselves with the diagnoses, with the
parent and or caregiver go to the department. They get
to see the cars, They get to see the different
you know, sounds, lights, everything, see the uniforms up close,
see their badges, and get to interact with them and
see the individual in a more controlled state, but still
be able to see again maybe some of their ticks,
some of the things that they're going to do to
help self soothe. And again it's an introduction and they
get to meet, they get to have some time one
on one. Third is then I actually go ahead and
I do my training for the department. And again, you know,
I let the departments know because one of the things
that I'm finding is is that some of the departments
are having trainings once a year, and some of them
are in person, some of them are online classes that
they're doing, but some departments are doing a ten minute
roll call where somebody will come in and in ten minutes,
you know, give information in regards to autism, and that's it.
That's all that they're getting. So I'm seeing again a
spectrum of what some of these departments are getting, and
some of them are you know, they have a very
good system in place. They have a very good rapport
within autism or autism groups in the area, so you know,
they really are it's a great collaboration. And then again,
you know, all the way down to something during a
ten minute roll call. So trying to bridge that forming
these relationships. Again, I am not looking to be reaching
out to the departments once a day, once a week,
once a month, but should we be speaking probably a
few times a year, I think, so, just checking in,
how's everything going, any concerns, any questions, Hey did you
hear about something new that they might have found out
in regards to you know, in regards to autism, or hey,
you know there's this new product out there. You know,
this might be something that might be helpful. Maybe you
should reach out to the autism groups in your area
and see if they know about it. But it's about
formulating these relationships, it is about keeping them intact. But
the other big thing that I'm finding is that federal
law enforcement is not getting the training or again getting
it at the same level that the state is, that
the county, that the city is whatever. Again, law enforcement
agency you're talking about in what area of the United
States you're talking about. So you know, you're going to
a house where you think you're going to be finding
a fugitive that you're looking for, but that fugitive is
in living there, and it's my son that's answering the door,
And how are you going to approach him? And how
are you going to interact with him? Again, you are
you're going in there is a fugitive that you're looking for.
He is in the house, and lo and behold. You
know his son's cousin is over and the cousin is
under the spectrum, and you're coming in. You know, gun's
drawn and everything, and you have this autistic individual in
the households. I use a scenario with my own son.
My own son, before the age of eighteen, was subpoened twice,
and one case my son was a victim, the other
case my son was a witness. The case where my
son was a witness, he witnessed his friend being beat
up by an adults. You know, both were seventeen and under,
so the adult, you know, was like nineteen and over.
Thank god, there was a US Marshall. I don't know
if he lived there, he was just driving through the area.
I don't know, but he was there and he was
able to help diffuse the situation, contact me and have
me so I come pick up my son. So you
just you don't know. Now, law enforcement, even though they're
not one o'clock, they are working all the time. And
again aware of that, so you don't know when you're
going to encounter. It could be on the job, it
could be on your own personal time. So you know
you should be prepared. That's all because you don't know,
and you hear about these situations where they go and
they do a complete one eighty and you know what
I refer to as a nanosecond. I'm realistic. I know
that I'm not going to totally eliminate, but what I
like to see those numbers come down, Yes, I would.
Education is a powerful tool, and the more tools that
I can give somebody to interact and work in a
positive manner with these individuals, the better off we're all
going to be in the long run.
When you interact with police, and train them. Are you
working with local police, state police, or do you cover
other states? How wide a scope do you do?
I work with county, I work with state. I work
with the Sheriff's department. And you know, I have gone
in and spoken to the US Marshals, I've met with them.
I continue to get into more and more agencies Here
in Maryland. We go and we have the chief of
police for the department. Then you go and you have
a chief that oversees the whole county, and then there's
yet another chief that oversees the whole state. And then
there's an organization that you know, it's like all the
chiefs you know belong to that you know oversee, like,
you know, the whole country. So getting into those getting
into these federal agencies, it's not an easy task, but
you know, it's definitely not something that I shy away from.
What's the biggest challenges that you have come across in
getting the police to open their doors so that they
can interact and learn more about what you're trying to
train them about autism.
Finding out who is the best person to speak to
in an agency, and being able to make contact with
them and get.
Back have you had instances where you've gone into a
police station, tell them what you do, explain what you're
trying to accomplish, Yet they don't feel like there's a
huge concern in what they are seeing out there at
that time.
I have had some say that, you know, and it's
literally has been a handful. So it hasn't really been
many that this is not something that you know, they
see in their area. I have had and like I said,
literally you know a handful that have said that.
I've talked with a couple of people that do exactly
what you do. The biggest issue they run into is
they want more training at longer periods of time because
a ten minute roll call just doesn't get it across.
No, it doesn't. It definitely doesn't, and it truly is.
I mean, it's about forming relationships. I'm a very big
proponent of that. I also tell law enforcement that I'm
not one of those that comes in and says you
need to do and give them a whole laundry list
of what you need to do. Well, you know, I
also know that we do we need to work with
our loved ones as well, and again, you know, having
them see a K nine dog, having them see the vehicles,
having them see what the uniforms look like. This is important,
especially as they get older. What to carry on them.
You get pulled over what you should do, making sure
that your hands are at ten and two. Making sure
that you're advising the officer that they want to see
license and registration, making sure that officer, I am going
to go into my pocket and pull out my wallet,
you know, don't just do things. And again, you know,
these are all things that we can work on. Now.
Is everything going to go perfectly? No, it's not. But
the more that hopefully we do it, the more we
are going to be reinforcing it, you know, with our
loved ones, you know, and them understanding the importance of it.
When you do find that time that the officers can
be available, you start telling them some of the things
about autistic people and how they act and react. How
have the officers been Because a lot of officers, as
well as just regular people that don't understand autism, they
really can't tell the difference between an autistic person that
might be having a major meltdown, whereas another child might
be neurotypical and is just having a tantrum. They could
have a hard time telling the difference between a meltdown
and a tantrum.
Yes, and believe it or not, that's something that I
do discuss. People say, yeah, you know, and that is
something that has come up in the trainings that all
kids have meltdowns. No, no, all right, when we're talking
about a meltdown versus a tantrum. When a child is
throwing a tantrum, they are looking for they're looking for
an outcome. They're looking for something. Okay, they want another cookie,
they want another you know, half an hour on the computer,
or another half an hour of being you know, outside
playing whatever. They're looking for a result, Whereas with the meltdown,
they are looking for something to stop. They're looking for
that aggravating noise, that annoying smell, whatever it is. They're
just they're looking for something to stop. And that's like
one of the big differences. And another misconception that and
I can't believe that that this is still you know, circulating,
is that autism is a mental health disorder. Again, you know,
I go over that that, Yes, you very well, you're
going to have an autistic individual ADHD that does have
anxiety depression and in some cases, you know, schizophrenia, But
when we're talking about autism and we're talking about mental health,
mental health issues can be what's the word I'm looking for,
I don't want to say controlled, but they can be
maybe tampered because of therapy, because of medication. You're not
going to do that with somebody that is autistic. You're
not going to be able to stop their stimming. You're
not going to be able to have them stop these
sounds bothering them, and you know, whatever sensory issues, You're
not going to stop that with therapy. You're not going
to stop that with medication.
Okay, let me give you a scenario here and see
how you would handle it, or how you'd tell the
police officer to handle it. A child has a meltdown,
but this child just happens to be about six one
three and fifty pounds. He's gone through the house just
like a tornado would go through the house. Some things
are destroyed, some things are just not good. He's calming
down and getting back to more norm The police show up,
they see the end of it, not the full force
of it. How would you tell them to handle that
so they don't put him back into sensory overload, and
then his meltdown starts engaging again, and it starts becoming
a tornado all over again. How would you tell them
to approach a situation like this?
Okay, well, what I recommend is we have the parenter
the caregiver there, depending on the level of communication that
the individual has. Ask is the individual able to speak
for themselves? And do you want to stay here while
I ask some questions? So we might want to find
out overhead lights on or off side lights? Are that better?
Is it better to have two officers there or should
we just have one officer in the room and maybe
just have the other one off in the background. Again,
our bullet point questions, make sure that we give them
time to answer, and if they don't answer, rephrase your question.
Don't ask it the exact same way, because again that
could be aggravating to some of them. Rephrase your question,
keep them short, keep them simple, and in some cases,
if this is difficult for the individual, we might have
to do some questioning during a second session that you
might not be able to do everything in one session.
So it's really it's going to be having input, meeting
the individual where they are at, finding out what their
comfort level is. Some autistic individuals that I have spoken
to that all they have to do is here that
there's a police officer coming, and their anxiety will go
through the roof. And even though they might be highly verbal,
because their anxiety is extremely high, it is going to
be difficult for them to communicate. So do we need
to go with maybe yes to no questions and have
them point to a yes to no card? Well maybe,
and then again hopefully the parent or caregiver is there
and they can let you know that do we need
to go maybe to picture cards? Is that going to
be something? Again, we're not trying to be little the
autistic individual, but this is special circumstances. And again we're
not looking to escalate something. Let's find something that is
going to be easier for them to communicate. Now, another
thing that I am looking into are sensory bags for
the officers to keep in their vehicles. So I've started
reaching out and asking law enforcement, is this something that
you have and maybe this is something that we need
to look into. You know, I have seen some articles
where this is being used and it has been extremely helpful.
So again I go and I give that scenario where
you go and you have law enforcement that is looking,
they've been watching the house and they know there's a
child or children in the household, there's a husband and
a wife, but then that child's friend or cousin stays
over and they are there under the spectrum. Well, maybe
they don't have those sensory items that help sue them.
So wouldn't it be helpful for an officer to have that,
Or again, it's a traffic stop and having something so
that autistic individual that their anxiety doesn't escalate and that
they have something that fidget toy or whatever it is
that's going through that comfort toy, something soft, something whatever,
it is something that could be helpful to them. And again,
the agencies that are using these, be it law enforcement,
that they are finding them helpful. So let's look into this.
It can't hurt. And again, if this is going to
be something that is going to de escalate a situation
a lot quicker, why not? Why not? Right?
The main thing we're trying to do here is to
create a very comfortable interaction to where nothing gets out
of control, everything is handled so that that autistic person
doesn't wind up being detained down at the precinct definitely.
You know, I'm a big believer, and again, you know,
nothing is one hundred percent. But again, if we can
bring these numbers down and we can have more positive interactions,
better off for all parties concerned. Because again law enforcement,
these officers do they want to the home, They have friends,
they have family that they want to get home too.
Then again, so does the autistic individual. They want to
get home, they want to be with their loved ones
as well. So let's try to work it out so
that all porters can you just go back to their
residences at the end of the day and had a positive.
Outcome right exactly now. In closing, what would you like
to tell the listeners that you think is very important
that they hear about the things that you do with
the police and the autistic world, trying to make that
bridge so that no escalation happens and it just creates
a better situation for everyone that's involved.
One of the things that I did, even before I
started getting into the training was that I bought my
son around to all of the local law enforcement agencies
in my area and I introduced them to the chief.
I introduce some to the captain and to some of
the officers. I made them aware that my son is
under the spectrum again, just to have an informal meet
and greet to find out what would be helpful for
them to know. Should the ninety one one call come
in that involves my vehicle, you go and you know
maybe you have my license plate number, you have my address,
that both of those are flagged, so that you know
that there could be an autistic individual in the vehicle
or on the premises. The more information that you can
go and you can pass on, the better let them know. Again,
I mentioned about these QR codes that my son my daughter,
that they go and they have these QR code little
badges on their footwear, that they have it on their backpack,
they have it on their jacket, they have it on
a lanyard around their neck. Scan that all information in
regards to my son and daughter is there. Everything that
will be helpful to you. You will find this forming
that relation ship, letting them know that my son was
now driving. What information can you pass on to be
helpful to him? What can we tell you should he
have an autism card? I know here in Maryland that
it needed to be disclosed, so it's on my son's license.
I don't know how it is in every state in
the United States. So it's right there on his license.
And he needed to get medical documentation from his doctor
that they felt that it was okay for him to drive.
What information does the state require? And again I can't
say it enough. Is forming those relationships, making law enforcement aware.
They go and they have oh gosh, what do they
call it? You know, like night out with law enforcement.
It might be a good idea to attend those. It
would be probably a good idea to be involved with
the autism groups in the area. Having it set up
so that once a year you go in with your
loved ones. This is my loved one. Here's law enforcement again,
reminding them of the unims, the badges. When the police
say such and such, this is what you do kind
of like have it as role playing, being creative? How
does your tie? How does your loved one learn? Do
we shoot a video with them? Do we do cards?
Do we do the role play? What is going to
be the best way for your loved one, my loved
one to learn this information and work with law enforcement
in regards to this. Now, I understand that law enforcement,
they're not just there to be learning about the autism community.
I'm very well aware of that. But let's see, let's
find out how can we work together and again being creative,
being creative, and it's about finding that way that is
going to be helpful to all parties involved. But again
starting with communication. I can't emphasize that enough.
Yeah, that's great. Well, this has been simply tremendous conversation.
I appreciate you coming on.
Why Thank you. I appreciate you having me.
It's been my pleasure. Thanks for taking the time out
of your busy schedule to listen to our show today.
We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we
enjoyed bringing it to you. If you know anyone that
would like to tell us their story, send them to
tonymantor dot com contact then they can give us their
information so one day they may be a guest on
our show. One more thing we ask tell everyone everywhere
about why not Me, the world, the conversations we're having,
and the inspiration our guests give to everyone everywhere that
you are not alone in this world. M