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A disabled individual is having a crisis and a concerned family member has called the cops to help. They let the dispatch know to relay that they are calling for assistance and that the individual is disabled. When cops arrive on the scene the individual appears to be yelling and waving their arms around. The cops give the command to stop, the disabled individual doesn’t respond and they are shot. This hypothetical is far too often a reality, “Individuals with disabilities, including those with autism, are five times more likely to be incarcerated than people without disabilities. Additionally, police interactions lead to more injuries and fatalities within this vulnerable population, largely due to lack of training and the improper use of excessive force”(Meet The Police | National Autism Association, n.d.). This is often attributed to the high stress of the interaction, and when stress levels are elevated, decision-making and executive functioning are negatively affected. This can be especially dangerous when you are at the receiving end of an authority figure with the means to do harm in an environment that increases stress. This is one of many issues that the disabled community risks when they have interactions with police officers. When high-stress environments mix with internal biases that officers have, the result can be deadly. How this project can help is to support the reframing of the autistic community in such a way to make them familiar. The other goal of the project is to help support caretakers in their understanding of what their role is in supporting the autistic community through examining whether or not their interactions align with their self-concept.

In The self of self-help books is adrift from social and economic facts by Craig Schamel, he outlines the key differences between self-help books and social science research and his views as to why that distinction is important. He likens self-help to a set of raw data that hasn’t been summarized nor tested and tips that haven’t been replicated and are often not created by researchers and thus are not backed by science. The other key difference is that self-help resources are far more accessible than the average social science research. Accessibility both in the ability to access the content and also the way that research often uses field-specific language that is not common knowledge and makes drawing inferences or guidance from research challenges. The pros of self-help books are that they can help to establish a framework that the reader is in control of their narrative and their choices. Also important to reiterate as a pro is that this type of literature is easier to digest and access. The con is that while this may bring forth feelings of satisfaction and peace of mind, it often ignores the societal factors involved or more specific consideration for how our brains can be both consciously and unconsciously influenced. To elaborate further, because of the focus on self it often draws from a specific cultural lens and does not generalize, however, this is a con of both research and self-help as research is often from the western perspective. Regardless, the problem with both research and self-help is the lack of guidance and action. This lack of guidance is something that will be addressed in my project because of its affiliation with my company and the resources, mainly being time and people.

To conceptualize the harm that is perpetrated against the disabled community and what is being addressed I am using this definition from  Disability: Missing from the Conversation of Violence(Mueller et al., 2019).

Their definition is that violence is  “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation”(Mueller et al., 2019,p.708). With that in mind, disabled people make around ⅓- ½ of the deaths that occur as a result of police officers. My workbook will address ways in which we can utilize wise interventions and cognitive science to help frame this issue in a way police officers will be receptive to.

I plan to utilize wise interventions to help to alter the self-concept and role that police officers play in their confrontations with the disabled community and also their perception of the disabled community, specifically the autistic community. Wise interventions as defined by Gregory Walton and Timothy Wilson in Wise Interventions: Psychological Remedies for Social and Personal Problems are “the meanings and inferences people draw about themselves, other people, or a situation they are in and use precise, theory- and research-based techniques to alter these meanings”(Walton & Wilson 2018,p.618). Thus in tackling inferences people draw about themselves being police officers I am assuming what I will be working with are generalized assumptions that they are good people doing their civic duty. This I think will be on a continuum ranging from those who see faults in the organization and join to help from within, to those who have visible and conscious negative associations about in this case the autistic community. On the other end, I am anticipating changing perceptions of the autistic community. What perceptions I think may be present are the mischaracterization of behaviors such as stereotypy as threatening, or aggressive behaviors as more threatening than in actuality. Additionally, I see barriers or differences in communication as something that would need to be highlighted. There are more aspects to autism and other conditions that are relevant but those stick out as what is a priority in addressing.

 

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