Autism medical alert bracelet?

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And here's the problem with the medical establishment: Nobody listens to the crazies, even when the crazies know what they're talking about.

Frankly you're a f**kwit. I hope you get punched in the mouth by a violent patient whose needs you couldn't be arsed to think about.

Dang it... All right. I'm going to take a deep breath here and back up a bit.

I think I've turned this thread a lot more hostile than it could have been. I shouldn't have done that. What I said, I meant, but I shouldn't have said it so rudely.

I have a history of having been restrained, and it was traumatic, and I do have PTSD. Part of this is my own emotional reaction to the thought that it could happen to me again just because I am autistic. It makes me want to flee, fight, hide. I care deeply about the way autistic people are treated by police and medical professionals and my reaction to the statement that a paramedic would routinely restrain a distressed autistic person was more like that of a scared animal than of a rational human being. Just please think: If I react this way to just talking about it, what happens when someone who has been hurt more than I have, who can't cope as well, or who is more sensitive, actually experiences it? Not all hurt is physical. If you are in the medical profession, you have a duty to "first, do no harm"...

This is incredibly insulting. The fact that you think you can just ignore the medicalert bracelets because someone might be in shock, and that you think you might know more than them,or us, is incredibly insulting.

In that situation with that man with that laceration - if he was wearing a medicalert bracelet, the the first thing you do is check the bracelet. If it said autism, you do not assume its shock, and you do not treat the person like they're neurotypical. You treat them like they're autistic. You still treat them the best, and fastest you can. But you treat them as an autistic patient. You don't use sudden touch, or light touch. You don't use loud noises. You watch out for if they're going to bolt. You worry about communicating with them in ways they can communicate.

Callista's input is not to be ignored. She's lived it. Her input isn't the only thing to take into account. Yes, you need to worry about time, and sometimes time is what matters. But you need to worry about keeping people safe too.

And your statement is still wrong, if you are only thinking about the worst possible cases and saying in the worst possible cases looking only from the point of view as a paramedic then those people wouldn't get something from a medicalert bracelet, then that doesn't mean they're not useful. You even said 90% of cases use other precautions. So why are medicalert bracelets useless?



Callista - I've not been restrained, but I have seen someone I know after he was chased down by the police because of a miscommunication (they thought he was part of a drug bust they were doing, he thought they were mugging him).

That is when I decided I needed to have something to tell people that I was autistic. Because I realized how poorly I'd react in a situation like that.

Now, with where I am mentally, combined with the autism, if someone tried to restrain me I'd melt and be gone.It would be bad.

I can see why we all have difficulty getting along with others.

My final point: very very few in the profession know what an autism med bracelet means. People still think autism means "ret*d." Enjoy your fantasy land where you think you'll get special treatment.

That's my entire point. Sit here arguing on the Internet all you like imagining what you're saying matters. I've saved people's lives and I've never had a single patient complaint. What have you done with your life?

Frankly, you're a judgemental person who thinks they know everything about medical science because you've been "trained" in such.
You may know stuff about medical science, but you clearly have a LOT to learn about patients and how they should be treated under certain circumstances. Seeing as how you're on a forum full of such potential patients, I would think you'd actually listen to what Callista and others have to say on the matter. People who actually suffor from such conditions know a LOT more about them than you ever could, simply because you don't live with it on a daily basis and you have no idea how people are truly effected by it.
So, if I were you, I'd listen to people who actually have such conditions because they know what they're talking about, and can give you helpful advice on how to deal with future situations that may occur in your line of work.

You must think you're really big, sitting there insulting people who know this stuff more than you do.
If very very few in the profession know what an autism med bracelet means, why don't you help with actually getting some training started for it? Mention it to your superiors until they realize that it should be something that people are trained for, especially since you seem to think people still think autism means "ret*d", that would be even more indication that training should commence.

I have a medic alert that has Asperger's listed on it -as well as panic disorder. I think it helps if I were in an accident and I couldn't talk, medics would know that I have autism and would be able to use that info to help me.

To everyone who thinks that having a bracelet will prevent a paramedic from thinking someone is in shock just because the person is autistic and therefore 'must just be shut down', did it occur to you that that is very dangerous? What if that person really did have a head injury and was in shock, and the paramedics, seeing "Autism" just assumed it was a spectrum-related shutdown? They could die from incorrect assumptions and subsequent inappropriate treatment.

That is a very good point. Since it is logical to assume that not all field medics would be able to tell the difference, it is possible that one may be mistaken for another. However, there are also "tell tale" signs that would indicate purely brain injury above autism, such as the pupils not dialating correctly, nausea, headache, and possibly even dizziness.

I'm not sure an autism bracelet is a practical idea. I guess it depends on the person. I personally do not think I would wear one.

Hi! I think that a bracelet is good idea. My friend use one for years, and it helpful to him, he uses to medical alert systems,on site reviewsbee you can find great advice how to choose something.

I use RoadID.
http://www.roadid.com/

I love it because I can have whatever I want inscribed on the plate. I have the interactive one which has my medical profile attached to it. I can fill in whatever I want in my medical profile. I have the fact that I am Autistic in there, my emergency contacts, instructions on how to treat me if I am in an Autistic crisis moment, the dates of my tetanus shots, any allergies or sensitivities, the names and contact info for my doctor, dentist and psychologist, and whatever else I want to put on there. That way a first responder can have access to all of this even if I am unconscious and my family will be notified if I am found somewhere.

The metal plate on the bracelet has the website and phone number of 24 hour RoadID staff and a pin number on the back so that any information I put in can be accessed. The bracelet itself also has enough lines that I can have quite a bit of info engraved on it. I gave my brother one since he is a road biker and and goes on long very long bicycle rides often alone. That is actually what the RoadID was originally created for. He chose the non interactive one, no attached profile, just the engraving on the bracelet

They also have a little flag thing that you can attach to the bracelet itself where you can choose something specific as an additional alert or decoration. They have one for Autism but I chose the traditional medical alert flag instead of the Autism specific one. They have a variety of bracelets, anklets, and tags and even have them for your dog in case your dog gets lost or injured. My brother and I have the sports bracelets and I also have the military style dog tag necklace that I wear under my shirt for when I go to the barn since my hands can get pretty dirty when I work with horses. I have the word "Autism" inscribed on the front side of that. It is really a beautiful piece of "jewelry", really well made and actually almost too pretty to wear!

But yeah, I think it is always a very good idea to have these kinds of things because they can be very helpful to us in times of an emergency especially if we go nonverbal or are unresponsive.

I think it is a great idea for those who sometimes become mute or not able to communicate especially in a situation where the law or paramedics are involved.

I thought about it and decided I have the gift of speaking and I do not have selective mutism so I'm going to use them. My last meltdown, the police picked me up and they asked me if I had any diagnoses and I was able to tell them verbally I was diagnosed ASD and GAD and to remind them not to touch me and that I was about to faint from hyperventilating. When we got into the hospital I was able to tell them I did not want to take off my clothes. So I think I can manage without a bracelet. Even if I were unconscious, doctors could wait until after I wake up to know I'm on the spectrum.

I do. Because my nonverbal stuff has been happening more frequently. I have this sort of semi-shutdown thing going on sometimes where I can still be walking around, but I've lost all cohesion, nothing makes sense and I can't put it all together anymore. If someone was to try and interact with me like that, it'd probably look like I was on drugs. And there's the unpredictability - if someone was to do something to / around me in that state that I ordinarily find difficult - like touch me or make loud noises - I can't be certain of what I'd do. Having an autism bracelet as a cliff note as to what is actually going on here is just a bit of a reassurance for me.

I am always caught between feelings on this concept, at first i thought eh I am not exactly low functioning enough to need help crossing a road and I don't exist in an utterly separate slice of existence than humans without autism but then I examine various events and run ins in the past that involve shops or strangers that really were caused by my misinterpretation of expectations, rules and interactions and I think jeez if I knew I was autistic maybe that wouldn't have happened and I could have whipped out something explaining that I hadn't meant to cause a scene or get involved in some crap I could've done without!

I even got a police officer sent over to me in sainsbury's once because I got offended that the manager said my ID was fake and was very rude and dismissive of me so I went to the self service to a woman who had served me some rum the month before, she'd obviously forgotten and I hadn't figured out she probably wouldn't remember me, so I got a police guy sent to talk to me for 'trying to be a thief' lol, even the police guy said my id was fine, it's only cause I had a skinhead on the eight year old pic and was nervous that day so probs looked shifty as hell