PD about disabilities for law enforcement personnel
Isn't it a great idea...but, wait...Is it?
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Corinne Purtill described how a consultant for Autism Interaction Solutions provided recommendations about how law enforcement agents should recognize autistic behavior and interact with autistic individuals so that enforcement activities do not escalate in to violent confrontations. I have publicly encouraged and promoted such professional development for police and other law officers since the early 2000s, so I am glad to see Ms. Purtill’s article, “When slowing down can save a life: Training L.A. law enforcement to understand autism,” in the LAT for 24 February 2026.
Here’s Ms. Purtill’s lede:
Kate Movius moved among a roomful of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, passing out a pop trivia quiz and paper prism glasses.
She told them to put on the vision-distorting glasses, and to write with their nondominant hand. As they filled out the tests, Movius moved about the City of Industry classroom pounding abruptly on tables. Then came the cowbell. An aide flashed the overhead lights on and off at random. The goal was to help the deputies understand the feeling of sensory overwhelm, which many autistic people experience when incoming stimulation exceeds their capacity to process.
“So what can you do to assist somebody, or de-escalate somebody, or get information from someone who suffers from a sensory disorder?” Movius asked the rattled crowd afterward. “We can minimize sensory input. ... That might be the difference between them being able to stay calm and them taking off.”
As I read that account of the session, I started to have a less-than-happy feeling. Probably most of us, Dear Readers, have experienced similar sessions. The session leaders, as in Ms. Purtill’s article, provide props, effects, and activities to simulate disabilities. It’s like that 1960s sensitivity training. Do those simulations actually capture the experience of living with a disability? Could their similarities to the experience of individuals with disabilities actually simply be an illusion?
