I haven't written on here in quite some time, but due to recent events, I realize I need to.  Please see the below e-mail I sent out last week to various people in authority in the village where I live.  Follow-ups to this story soon.

I am a mother of two children with autism. My younger son suffers from

hyposensory issues and engages in repetitive behaviors such as kicking and

hitting walls, doors and windows. My son’s teachers and therapists have

taught me methods of redirecting him away from the behavior, but at times,

nothing works. I often apologize to my neighbors for this and am always

assured they understand I am doing my best and that the noise is only heard

minimally and does not bother them.

That said, we have had two autism-related wandering incidents that

thankfully were resolved quickly, but have been reprimanded harshly by our

neighbors, who don’t understand how unfortunately common this is with autism

kids, despite the best efforts of autism parents. We have burglar locks and

alarms on the inside of every window and both our doors have triple locks

that require multiple keys.

On Sunday, May 20, 2012, at around 10:00 a.m., I was sorting laundry and

was startled by a knocking on my bedroom window. When I opened the blinds,

there was a police officer standing there who said he needed to come

inside my condominium. He stated he had rung our doorbell several times. I

suffer from hearing damage, so I often do not hear the doorbell. Friends

and family generally call first so I know to listen for it. The officer

stated there had been a noise complaint. (Pursuant to our condo association

bylaws, noise is prohibited only between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.) He also

said, “I’ve been out here before, my partner’s been out here before…” which

is incorrect, as this was the first I had ever heard of any noise complaint.

He asked me many irrelevant questions as to my activities and the activities

of my children that day. While he was there, my son started kicking the

patio door. The officer commented, “see, that’s glass, that could be

dangerous.” Really? He said my neighbors did not want to deal with my

child’s noise and that I should move. (Ironically, I found out later the complainant is a renter. 

I'm an owner.)  I replied that our condo had been on

the market for nearly two years, so we were doing our best to leave. After

he left, my children were crying and very upset by his rude, confrontational

behavior and it took me nearly two hours to calm them both down.

My husband was upset and called the police department. They verified this

was the first time any officer had come out to our home, but many noise

complaints had been made via telephone by the same person. They could not

give him the name of the person for obvious privacy reasons.

On Monday, May 21, 2012, at about 6:30 p.m., we were sitting down for

dinner. My husband said he wanted to check our mailbox before we ate. When

he opened the door, there were three officers blocking his way. They

asked if they could come in as they were barging their way into our condo

anyway. They told us there had been an attempted break-in to our building

and alleged vandalism to a car. We were grilled with questions as to our

activities that day (we were both at work most of the day). My husband saw

the garage door in question was open when he left for work at 3:00 a.m. I

saw the garage door in question was open when I left for work at 8:45 a.m.

and the allegedly vandalized car was not in the garage at 8:45 a.m. I was

reprimanded by an officer, “why didn’t you tell your neighbor her garage

door was open?” My husband was not going to knock on someone’s door at 3:00

a.m. and why would I knock on someone’s door when they weren’t home? If the

vandalism occurred in the garage, why did she wait until dinnertime to

report it? Isn’t it possible the vandalism occurred during the day,

wherever she was?

I didn’t see that anyone else in our building was questioned in regard to

the alleged occurrence. Is the autism family automatically suspect of

criminal activity for some reason? I felt harassed and bullied by the

officers and felt violated the way they barged into my home, interrupting a

family dinner.

Bullying of autistic individuals and their families has been prominent in

the news of late. The Chicago Police Department and several suburban police

departments have participated in autism sensitivity programs. I think this

would be in the best interest of this Police Department to avoid future

litigation regarding harassment.