police don't believe verbal, but printed card?

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Here's young man on the Spectrum speaking before the Berkeley City Council (California), and this was posted on youtube Dec 9, 2009.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQNR-i2gS0o

He says two police officers didn't believe him about his condition Asperger's and thought that it was just made-up baloney and that he was just making crap up.

Now . . . I wonder if he had had a printed card kept immediately behind his driver's license in his wallet, if the police would have been more likely to believe him then?

A card about the size of a business card, which says something like:

Maybe but it really depends on the officers tobe honest

I have an official National Autistic Society "Autism Alert Card". The police saw it when they searched my bag (when I was sectioned several times in a few years) but they ignored it. They still shouted at me, spoke in a condescending manner, told me to "shut up" and "stop being an idiot", and manhandled me very violently (although manhandling I guess couldn't have been avoided because I was attacking everyone in sight and trying to harm myself).

However with NHS staff (in A&E, on a day surgery unit, and on the psych ward), they mostly accepted it well. Well the psych ward staff were variable.

...hn...

I think on top of that the card would have to look official and maybe have a signature of some mental health professional. Though I've had instances I've told cops I had autism, unfortunately got a little to drunk a couple times and got stopped and on top of asking if I was drinking/doing any other drugs or if I have any other problems that could be going on. But yeah hasn't seemed like they didn't believe me though I think in both those cases they assume the drinking too much was more the issue than autism or anything else.

And one time I got searched by cops and they asked me some stuff, sort of long story and more me being in the wrong place at the wrong time....but I didn't say I had autism, though one cop asked why I wasn't making eye contact and I just said its how I've been since I was a kid and they didn't question it anymore.

I'm assuming being sectioned means you were held several days to a week pending a psychiatric evaluation? In any case, it sounds like a bad experience and I'm sorry this happened to you.

Would a cross-hand grip be a potential defensive maneuver? Meaning, if someone is being aggressive or confrontational or just plain confusing, with your dominant hand you grip their diagonally opposite shoulder. And your arm between gives you some protection. With the police, maybe a cross-hand grip where you grip your own shoulder? Sometimes the police may not even let you do this, so you might have to zen in and go deep within yourself, although still listening to the orders of the police officer and responding with a pause of one-thousand one. Even that slight pause may give you just a little bit of independence and a little bit of control. Obviously, the world should not be this way, but it sometimes is.

And if you get a chance, perhaps asking a martial arts instructor? Not the standard stuff they teach, for that really will hurt someone. But maybe asking him or her to puzzle out your particular situation and offer some suggestions. A bit of long shot, but this might potentially help.

Hi Sweetleaf, I think this might be one of the relatively few times I disagree with you.  And I do agree a card signed by a professional would be better.  But a neat, wallet-sized card printed out by a home computer, where the only hand-written addition is the name and number of the person to call for help, I still think is pretty good.  It gives the police officer pause.  It's obvious someone has put somep effort into it.  Whereas merely being verbally told, from the cop's perspective, might just be someone giving him or her a hard time.

Now, some of this might play off my current job working as a cashier at MegaMart* (not it's real name).  The company will match local competitor's printed ads.  Before I came, they then added the policy that the customer need not bring in the ad, that we will have the ad in the store for the customer.  In practice, this means we keep the ads at the checkstand and if the customer's price is close or reasonable, we will match it.  If someone gives me verbally a whole line of prices, I sometimes think they are working or playing me or taking me for a fool.  If they have their prices written down, I'm much more relaxed.  If they're planning on fooling the store, at least it's not personal against me.

I may well be mistaken, and the analogy may be goofy (I often reason by analogy).  All the same, it does seem to me that a card which is merely adequate puts the odds somewhat more in a person's favor.

Never carried card, but may need one when older for meltdowns.