I agree that the public doesn't understand meltdowns. But being autistic, dx late in life, and married for 25 years, I can tell you that any of my meltdowns could have landed me at a minimum a night in the local county jail. It doesn’t matter that I’m autistic and have meltdowns. These things are unacceptable by law, for both autistics and NTs. Therefore, I’m on medications to help manage these tendencies.

Should police in the US have better training on this to help them recognize the differences between normal enraged individuals and someone like me? The answer is yes. Being able to recognize the difference could mean the difference between an arrest and a peaceful resolution.

My concern is that for autistic meltdowns to become acceptable, there might have to be an exception built into the law, and in doing so, this could create an open door to abuse by nefarious NTs to abuse women and children. Being an autistic with this problem, I’m willing to accept society’s norms on this issue if it means we hold NTs to the same standards.

I belive our efforts as autistics would be better served if focused on ensuring local police training and the funding of police-social workers in departments, especially where this topic is concerned in the US.