Policing Black autistic children: A qualitative approach to understanding Black caregivers' concerns.
Ashlee Yates Flanagan, Meredith Cola, Naomi Yu and 20 others
PMID 39676506WHAT IT FOUND
Among 43 Black caregivers, most feared police would misunderstand, mishandle, or harm or kill their autistic child.
Hopes centered on patient, understanding officers. This reports concerns, not tested interventions.
Key findings
01Most caregivers (77%) reported significant concerns about law enforcement interactions with their Black autistic children.
02The main concerns were police training quality (70%), autistic behaviors being inappropriately policed (30%), and threat of harm or murder (39%).
03Some caregivers (19%) shared hopes, with patience as the central hope.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was mostly in the Northeastern United States, so concerns may not match Black caregivers in other regions. Most respondents were mothers, so fathers and other caregivers were not well represented. Most children were male, so concerns about Black autistic girls may be missing. Answers came from an open survey question, with no follow-up questions, so the reasons behind each concern may be incomplete. Caregivers were the only participants, so autistic children's own voices were not heard. The study describes concerns and hopes, not tested effects of any intervention.
Declared interests
The authors declared that Rita Solórzano, Sinan Turnacioglu, and Vijay Ravindran are employed by Floreo Inc., and Joseph McCleery is a paid consultant. Floreo is a virtual-reality police-interaction intervention discussed in the paper. Publication types also list NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that police training or caregiver coping interventions work. The study reports caregivers' concerns and hopes from written survey answers, not outcomes of any tested intervention.