Engaging Diverse Stakeholders to Inform Virtual Reality-based Autism Training

Background: Individuals with physical and psychiatric disabilities are at high risk for negative outcomes, including injury and death, during interactions with police officers. This problem stems from a combination of police expectations, tactics, and procedures, and differences in how people with disabilities understand, interpret, and respond to police expectations, tactics, and procedures. Extensive evidence further indicates that police expectations, tactics, and procedures differ significantly in under-served and under-represented communities, which further increases risk for serious negative outcomes during the interaction.

Methods: Here, we utilize online questionnaires to collect systematic quantitative and qualitative data from stakeholders diagnosed with autism aged 18 or older, parents/guardians of individuals diagnosed with autism aged 12 or older, and police officers. Questionnaires combine rating scales, multiple choice questions, and written response opportunities. Autistic individuals and their parents are queried extensively regarding the experience of autistic people with police, perceptions of how police interactions are impacted by the person’s racial, ethnic, gender, and other demographics, and perceptions regarding how police can improve their interactions with autistic people. Police are queried extensively on their training and experiences interacting with autistic individuals, perception of autistic individuals’ needs, experience and perceptions of interacting with racially and ethnically under-represented populations, and their own perceived training needs.

Results: To date, we have collected data from 51 autistic adults and 94 parents. Of these, 44 represented autistic people of color, and 101 represented white autistic people. We have also collected data from 2 police officers thus far. In this presentation, we will report both quantitative and qualitative data analyses on the final sample of participants in this on-going study, including direct comparisons of the experiences, perceptions, and perceived training needs expressed by people of color relative to white stakeholders.

Conclusion: The ultimate goal of this project is to collect critically needed feedback from diverse stakeholders as we work to develop and improve trainings for both police officers and autistic individuals to have effective, comfortable, and safe interactions with one another.