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People with an autistic disorder often live exceptionally normal lives, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, that can change when they come into contact with law enforcement. Two bills approved today seek to make those encounters more normal.

280 thousand Floridians, one in every 68 of us, shows up on the autism spectrum disorder.

“the boy was very sensitive to lights and sounds” is how Autism Speaks described the disorder in a PSA.

Those with the disorder are seven times more likely to have interactions with police than average citizens.

“how does the officer know?”

Stay Rep. Bill Hager wants to make sure those with the disorder have someone in the room who understands them when they are interacting with police.

“People that quality to be in that interview include parents, or guardian, someone substantially familiar with the individual” says Hager.

Nancy Daniels, Public Defender for the 2nd Judicial Circuit says those with autism are often scared in police encounters.

“There’s a whole body of evidence about people confessing to things they didn’t do. Either because they didn’t understand the question correctly or because they are afraid to standup to authority” says Daniels.

Right now, own police rollup on someone who is acting out, their first thought is likely to be that they are high on drugs, not that they have an autistic disorder.

A second bill mandates police receive annual training on how to recognize someone who is acting out because of autism and not something else. Florida Sherriff’s support the legislation.  Major Bob Ura of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office waived his testimony in support of the legisaltion.

“The issues could be does the person understand what we say to them, and again, if we have markers or indicators that this may be somebody that has something to do with the autism spectrum, additional training will help us” Ura told us.

A third bill would order the Department of Highway safety to include an autistic diagnosis on state identification card.