Naugatuck mom Jenn Harding and her son Derek were in a terrifying car crash a few years ago.
“The gentleman hit us so hard, he knocked my tires off my rims,” Harding said.
She’s glad they were OK, but the scary part was thinking about what if she wasn’t, because Derek has autism.
“Derek can't speak. Derek couldn't say who he was, if he was OK, if I was OK, if you know, who mom was. And it just, it gave me crippling anxiety," Harding said.
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So, she created an autism safety alert form for police departments so parents and caregivers can register people on the autism spectrum in case they ever need the police.
“The parent gets to put on it the child's pertinent information. An example is if they're afraid of sirens, if they're afraid of lights, if they're drawn to water,” Harding said.
Now, New Haven police have launched the registration program and five people have already signed up.
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“It will let [officers] know when they’re en route to a call, the address will be flagged, and to be aware that there is someone that is on the autism spectrum,” Assistant Chief Manmeet Bhagtana said.
She explained that officers are trained in autism response, and that this effort helps them enhance their knowledge in how to handle certain situations and better respond to the communities they serve.
New Haven is on a growing list of police departments that have created autism programs. Like North Haven and others, they plan to give officers sensory bags filled with items used by those with autism.
“It will be like a toolkit for them to have. It will have step by step instructions,” Bhagtana said.
Gretchen Knauff, director of the city’s department of services for persons with disabilities, said this was a program the city’s commission on disabilities pushed for over the last year. There are about seven people on the commission who worked with Knauff and the police department to create the partnership with Walk with Derek.
Harding said she’s grateful departments across the state are implementing these programs.
“There isn't a second of the day I don't worry about Derek. But knowing that the police and emergency responders take the initiative to cooperate with this and have a little bit of information that could help our kids, does take a little bit of the worry away," Harding said.
