Cop mistakes autism for something else?

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After a fender bender accident in July, I was referred to the California DMV driver safety office for "re-examination". When I called and asked why, they said it had been requested by the CHP officer responding to the accident. So I pulled the accident report, and discovered that the cop thought I was "slightly detached from reality" and "unable to understand simple concepts (like how the accident occurred)". I've been in crashes before where I had full meltdowns after, and never got referred for retesting. I wonder if this cop was mistaking symptoms of autism for, say, drug use? Granted, the cop didn't know anything about me, so I guess he could have drawn incorrect conclusions. I was polite and respectful to him, but he seemed to think I was out of it. I didn't melt down or anything, although I was stressed.

This is why amateurs (even police) should not be diagnosing other people's mental state ... or even their own.

Pezar, assuming the police treated you with respect and dignity, I understand their position on this one. Considering I saw a half-dozen psychiatrists who weren't able to identify my AS, it's a bit much to expect a law enforcement officer to be able to do so; psychiatric diagnoses are outside of their purview. What is in the purview of law enforcement is to ensure that only sober people drive on our roadways.

Well, I've heard of police manhandling schizophrenic homeless people, thinking that the schizo was being "disrespectful" or deliberately not obeying them. If a schizo has a delusion that he's being hunted by the CIA, and six uniformed cops try to grab him, he may think "they've finally come for me" and run. I did everything the officer asked, answered all his questions to the best of my ability, was polite and respectful and didn't act like a jerk, and I still was called crazy.

I understand that. I've heard of aspies being called drunk or drugged out because symptoms of ASD sometimes present themselves in that way. Well, I've got a hearing with a DMV employee I'll call Miss L on Nov 7. I can explain the whole thing to her.

From the description, the cop didn't diagnose a damn thing, he just seemed to be unsure about a perceived spaceyness in someone's manner. None of has to be experts to notice someone is acting even slightly different. It sounds like the cop may have been wondering more about drugs than about neurobiological disorders. For that matter, I would think that most people, even NTs, feel a bit shocked and spaced out following a crash or collision; they're not fun.

Once again, you're just using this as an opportunity to bang your mean-spirited drum about the "self-diagnosed" and your obsession with them. It's also always taking a thread off-topic when you start in on it.

Going by profile information, pretty much half the people on this site appear to be self diagnosed or at least self suspecting.

And the other half who are diagnosed were once only in the suspecting stage too. It has to start somewhere. Nobody can GET diagnosed without there being some moment when an "amateur" thought they might need to be.

Yet were THEY -- which included you once upon a time -- only fooling themselves, according to your jaundiced view, and DIDN'T have it until they officially "did"?

You need to stop obsessing about the people on here who are only at the start of their journey. It's unkind and excluding and for all you know, a high percentage of them will turn out to be correct.

Good luck to you.

I would attribute that to shock after an automobile accident. There's nothing like having another vehicle bash into your car to toss a strong dose of surrealism into your day.

This happened to someone else on here. I remember a thread when someone said their brother had been in a car crash and was rocking and having a major meltdown when the cops reached the scene, and the stupid idiots thought he was high on drugs so they tried to restrain him and pat him down to see if he had drugs on him. He was one of those people who can't stand being touched, which will only have made matters worse. For such times as these it would really be worth carrying an altert card that you can flash at people.

In your case, however, you've said you didn't even have a meltdown. Maybe you were giving off an "Aspie vibe" without realising it, though. It can happen.

It is possible the police officer mistook your behavior for something else.

Training for people with disabilities in the 1st responder communities is something that is slowly being improved upon.

Speaking as a first responder, I HAVE to judge your mental state constantly. We have to consider everything.

If your sitting there quiet, are you sick? Injured? Paralyzed? About to kill me? If your agitated, are you nervous? Are you on medication? Are you about to attack me?

I was on a call, guy was sleeping peacefully on a train, we woke him up to check on him, asked him how he was doing, and he looked at us, and took a swing at the paramedic.

This is why there are always misconceptions...

I have Tourettes, and the stereotype that everyone swears constantly is a lie from British and American media.

If you really want to have fun with this issue take nerve suppressants and have a low frequency voice speak to the officers slowly and clearly.
Be ready to do a field sobriety check every time you get stopped.

I seriously dread the day I have to be questioned by the cops - apparently, signs such as fidgeting and bad eye contact are often taken as signs of a liar, even when you're telling things exactly as they are.

I empathize.

Been there, done that, had enough bad experiences that the sight of a person in uniform makes me nauseous.

I empathize with the OP, too...

...but unfortunately the cop in question is just doing his/her job. People have fender-benders all the time-- NT, AS, whatever. Fender-bender happens. You can probably call it discrimination, and you can probably be right-- you're being singled out to be crapped on because you had a non-standard response. HOWEVER. The cop has no way of knowing WHY you had that response. The cop has no way of knowing if you were a little traumatized, or kicking yourself, or already upset, or showing subtle signs of being drunk/high/otherwise impaired.

The cop is just doing his/her job. And it could have been worse.

So you go to the appointment. You talk to L. You make sure your clothes are clean and neat, you mind your eye contact, you put on your ABA-graduate best behavior. You say that you're an introvert, and kind of prone to anxiety, and you were incredibly stressed out from the accident and trying not to cry/cuss/stand there verbally berating yourself for letting it happen.

You DO NOT MENTION THE A-WORD. Never mind that it's the truth, it's the correct and accurate explanation, and by the way, plenty of autistics drive just as well as the next guy. You don't know what kind of preconceived notions L. might have about Persons With Autism Spectrum Disorder, and you don't want to compound this situation by running up against some of the common stupid ones.

This can be a pain-in-the-fanny formality...

...or this can mushroom into a meltdown-inducing nightmare, a suit under the ADA, and worse.

Take the pain-in-the-fanny formality route. Please.