Winter Garden sheds light on autism awareness with new police training

WINTER GARDEN — Countries around the globe were alight in blue April 2 in recognition of World Autism Awareness Day, and more than 16,000 buildings were turned blue — iconic monuments like the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower and the Great Sphinx.

Winter Garden resident Henry Wright was grateful to see the color displayed closer to home. The father of a 13-year-old child with autism is a member of the Winter Garden Masonic Lodge, and officials this year turned the outdoor lodge lights blue.

“This means so much to my family and all of the special-needs community,” he said.

Wright and his family will be at Thursday’s Winter Garden City Commission meeting to accept a proclamation for World Autism Awareness Day, April 2, and Autism Awareness Month in recognition of his efforts to make people aware of the disability.

The proclamation encourages citizens “to join the efforts in advocating public awareness as autism continues to increase to rise in both our community and nation as a whole.”

Joining the Wrights will be multiple local families — up to 50 people, he said — who have been affected by autism.

VICTOR’S STORY

Henry and Mimi Wright weren’t prepared for the four words the Dillard Street Elementary School guidance counselor said to them six years ago: Your son has autism.

After six months of denial, they decided it was time to get to work with their son, and they created #teamvictor.

“We went to classes, read every book that was out on Asperger’s, the high-functioning side of autism; attended seminars; and joined the Orlando chapter of Autism Speaks,” Henry Wright said.

And they discovered the extent of their son’s disability.

“Our early days, to put it into perspective: Asperger’s comes with concerns of loud noise-sensory issues that could be overwhelming for a child,” he said. “We couldn’t go out to eat, any sporting events, church, birthday parties, shows, concerts — that was a very tough time in our lives.”

The Wrights have spent the last four years hosting fundraisers that have yielded iPads for all of the special-needs classes at Dillard Street Elementary. Henry Wright has helped organize a 5K run at the Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves and a golf tournament at West Orange Country Club.

They have also brought awareness to their neighbors in Chapin Station. The Fourth of July is “nothing short of a nightmare,”  Henry Wright said, with all of the fireworks being set off on the streets. When he talked to surrounding residents about how loud sounds affect Victor, they stopped shooting off the noisemakers.

“We could not be in this place of grace without a great team effort of never giving up and getting people just to understand,” Henry Wright said. “We’re so proud of our son, Victor, and very blessed to live in such a caring city.”

OFFICERS IN TRAINING

The Autism Society of Greater Orlando has provided training to law-enforcement officers for nine years. The Winter Garden Police Department has 79 sworn officers, and 26 of the current officers have gone through the training. Lt. Scott Allen said the department plans to send more to the annual training sessions to learn how to successfully communicate with individuals with autism.

In the all-day program, officers sit through a morning class and then spend the afternoon watching and participating in live demonstrations with people with autism who represent the spectrum of the disability. The focus is on people ages 13 to 22, because they are the ones who most likely would run into a situation where law enforcement would be contacted, according go the Autism Society.

“Autism is more common than one would think, and law enforcement can often be called to situations where there is an individual with autism, in a crisis situation,” Allen said. “Being able to identify this disorder, and knowing how to successfully communicate with an individual with autism, will make the likelihood that the incident will be resolved successfully, without anyone being injured or being arrested, allowing us to provide the proper services needed to the community.”

Wright said this is an excellent training program.

“It starts with the dispatcher getting the information out to the responding officers,” he said. “This is so very important; it could potentially save a life. For example, if a police officer is responding to a call and is not aware of the situations, an autistic child could run out on (an officer), with no bad intent, but it could be a very bad situation. The same applies with our great firemen, of responding with a very warm and delicate approach.”

Contact Amy Quesinberry Rhode at [email protected].