Anxiety - Police Interaction - Alert Cards, Etc---

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I recently moved from the state of Florida back to Massachusetts. One of the problems I had in FL was that I was being stopped and detained nearly every time I left the house on foot to run errands. It got to the point where I feared for my safety, not because I was encountering the crime these officers alluded to, but because I have a stoic countenance, and sometimes have odd physical motions and habits. I'm sensitive to light, touch, and I also have a heart condition, one which makes "non-lethal" weapons such as tazers lethal to me.

I have been in MA for 5 months now, and have been pulled over by police twice during the past month. Today was particularly agitating as I was stopped for "speeding." I most certainly was not, and because I wasn't speeding I had no idea what this officer's intentions actually were. I began to get very nervous, shaky, and the officer noticed my hands trembling and said I was "making him nervous" and if I "was using drugs" -- I immediately explained that I have Asperger's, and that I am prone to physical/mental agitation and anxiety in situations like this one. My license & registration was checked and I was cleared to go.

I need to put a sticker or attached medical card (like the one I have for my pacemaker) on my driver's license. I am not otherwise impaired, but my encounters with law enforcement keep making me more and more nervous, in cases such as today I never know what to expect. Quite plainly, I have come not to trust the personality type, and so when approached by them I tend to enter a state of fear for my own safety.

What are other people doing these days to address this kind of situation? I have made the assessment that because I am so odd, interacting with an officer can be very dangerous for me. I want to be able to feel protected, and in order to do that the officers who stop me need to be immediately aware of my condition.

No, I do not want to wear a bracelet - I don't want to advertise it to the world - it's only in this particular interaction, and it's increasing frequency, that I have come to consider a safety issue.

if he stops you for speeding thats nothing to stress over. it happens all the time.

I was stopped for other reasons - I was not actually speeding. It was a pretense, a lie. Hence my increased anxiety towards the officer.

That is pretty scary, and it's sh!tty on the part of the officer. My best guess is because of dress, hair, beard length, car, bumper sticker, etc, they are profiling you as drug user/dealer.

How about keeping a card right next to your driver's license in your wallet?

"This person has autism" cards. What do you think?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt182828.html
(And I think we could improve on this card, making it briefer for one thing.)

Back in Christmas '91, I worked in a mail room. The manager of the mail room was a guy in his 30s with long hair. He told this story that some years ago whenever driving through this small town on the way to work, he got pulled over.

He finally called up the police department, asked to speak with a sergaent and said, hey, I'm just a guy going to work.

And it worked. They stopped pulling him over.

But it doesn't mean this method is always going to work.

idk try dressing preppy and shaving. sometimes the cops pull you over if you look funny.

I would suggest something similar, it would obviously work better the smaller the town and such. But instead of calling, I'd suggest going down there with a family member, introducing yourself and explaining your circumstances. Make clear that you aren't asking to get out of being pulled over, but that you'd like them to be familiar with your situation so they don't read you wrong, and you don't read their intentions incorrectly either.

Its a daunting thing to do, especially where you are at with your relationship with law enforcement, but I really do think it might help. If in a bigger area, you can try contacting via email or on the phone ahead of time to schedule an appointment with the right person to talk to, this would also work in smaller towns if you don't want to announce it to the whole department.

Hope that helps, and goodluck.