A kid went missing in our town the other night. The city PD did a robo-call to let everyone know he was missing. It wasn’t an Amber Alert (not sure why). The call we got was pretty crummy IMHO - the lady reading the notice sounded like she had not read the notice before recording it for 30,000 people.
Anyway in the Internet notices, and on the news, and in this robo-call they stated the the kid has Asperger’s. In the robo-call they said he had “Asperger’s Disease.” :rolleyes:
Anyway, I saw reactions from “OMG HE HAS AUTISM, HE CAN’T FUNCTION AND THE CITY NEEDS TO FUND A TRANSPONDER FOR HIM!” to “I got the call - Is he dangerous?” to “Isn’t that the disease where you bark every so often?”
My reaction was that they shouldn’t have mentioned his Asperger’s as it is not germane to finding him. Or is/was it? I mean, in my experience people with Asperger’s aren’t any less smart or capable than a neurotypical person, they just have some social problems. I’m sure some are worse off than others but I’ve never found them to be helpless.
Announcing this kid’s syndrome, which many people seem to be quite ignorant of, to anyone and everyone seemed to just put a weird spin on things and maybe stigmatized him a little bit harder going forward.
He was found the next day, by the way. I’m not sure of the circumstances of the whole thing, as they said he was last seen walking away from his parents at the corner of a small shopping strip. Why no one thought to like, follow him, is anyone’s guess. He ended up being found walking on a road a few towns north. Quite a hike!
Also I’ve noticed that at least the police notices on Facebook have now been edited to no longer mention that he’s got Asperger’s. I wonder if the parents asked them to correct it?
Was he a teenager? If so, the police might have mentioned Asperger’s so people realized this wasn’t just a case of a kid who didn’t feel like coming home.
Most states only post an Amber Alert if the missing child has been abducted, and even then they tend to hold off unless they have a description of the abductor or vehicle.
A neurotypical child would be expected to behave a certain way upon finding that they are “lost.” People looking for a “lost child” are going to be looking for kids that exhibit those behaviors.
A kid with Asperger’s may not act in the way searchers would expect, and warning them ahead of time that he does have the condition may make them more likely to find him.
I remember a search notice for a kid lost on a hike that specified that he was Autistic and would run/hide from people he didn’t know. Everyone knew they had to look harder and not just rely on getting close by and having the kid identify himself or be happy to be rescued.
I agree that it’s relevant information that might help people find him.
I’m no expert on Asperger’s, but just based on the subject line of the OP I guessed that the kid probably started walking off and didn’t stop. Take away that information and I’d be more likely to be thinking the kid was abducted or ran away.
By pointing out that the teen has Asperger’s the police may have thought it would offer a clue to identifying him. He may display difficulties in social interaction. He may be physically clumsy and use language oddly. He might have repetitive patterns of behavior.
If they’ve taken it down then someone (perhaps the parents, as offered by the OP) could have suggested that it didn’t need to be there.
No, most of them aren’t helpless. And in adults, the syndrome might just manifest itself as “just some social problems.” But a 15 year-old with Asperger’s can act out in some surprising ways, often mimicking the behavior of someone much much younger. When my stepson was 15, he seemed to be a smart, engaging, if somewhat immature kid—that is, if he was in a good mood, and felt unthreatened. Stress him out, even a little bit, and it was like dealing with a 7 year-old.
If D. had gone wandering at 15, my husband probably would have put “mildly autistic” instead of Asperger’s in the description, because, as you note, a lot of people don’t know what Asperger’s is. Worse, many of those who think they do know don’t take it seriously.
It sound like perhaps your community has a Reverse 9-1-1 alert system.
Medical conditions are relevant to missing persons reports for children and adults, as is whether the missing individual is believed to be in possession of needed medication.
Disclosure of specific diagnosis seems a bit odd to me. Normally the text of an All Points Bulletin (APB) would be re-worked a few times so as to emphasize that there is a medical issue without exactly disclosing what it is. I can’t imagine a justification for providing more information publicly without the family’s approval.
Unfortunately some teens are chronic runaways and the public as well as the emergency services community tend to downplay those cases. When the disappearance of such a teen is due to the teen being the victim of a criminal act the initial indifference of the community may complicate gather evidence, particularly if a crime is not initially obvious.
“Aspergers” (but not “disease”) is a medically correct identifying characteristic, for people who recognize the symptoms. Would you have thought “He wears glasses” as germane to the situation?
I don’t think Asperger’s is really helpful as an identifier. Everyone with Asperger’s is an individual. Some people with an autism spectrum disorder are shy and/or avoidant. Others are the complete opposite. Some “freeze” and become mute at the slightest provocation. Others are the complete opposite. Some are physically clumsy, and they tic and stim a lot. Others are graceful and do not do these things. The idea that there’s one unifying Asperger’s “profile” is wrong and keeps people from getting the help they need.
It would have been more useful to describe HOW the kid is socially impaired. If he may not respond to his name when you call him, just so say. If he’s likely to be emotional upset, just say he’s likely to be emotionally upset. “Asperger’s Disease” doesn’t communicate any of this and may have people on the look out for Rain Man instead of Dan Ackroyd.
