Doug Passon

The level of support is to say, look, I know this is horrible, and we're going to do our very best to navigate this, to run this gauntlet, and I'm going to be by your side through the whole thing. Look, here's the bright side. Now you know, and now you can start to get the right help, the right counseling, the right tools to navigate not only this stress in your life, but your life in general.

because for most people on the spectrum life is unmanageable even if they're not involved in some kind of criminal activity and so there is a sense of relief and hope that the future can be better once they've figured out what's wrong have a path forward to fix it the bigger challenge is what you said at the beginning of this question which is the idea of people thinking well if they have a high intellect and they can carry on these really high level conversations then

because for most people on the spectrum life is unmanageable even if they're not involved in some kind of criminal activity and so there is a sense of relief and hope that the future can be better once they've figured out what's wrong have a path forward to fix it the bigger challenge is what you said at the beginning of this question which is the idea of people thinking well if they have a high intellect and they can carry on these really high level conversations then

because for most people on the spectrum life is unmanageable even if they're not involved in some kind of criminal activity and so there is a sense of relief and hope that the future can be better once they've figured out what's wrong have a path forward to fix it the bigger challenge is what you said at the beginning of this question which is the idea of people thinking well if they have a high intellect and they can carry on these really high level conversations then

whatever you're saying is not relevant. Of course they knew what they were doing was wrong. How could they not have? They graduated high school, they drive a car, they've held a job, they've gone to college, whatever it is, nothing could be further from the truth. And that is our monumental hurdle, and I'm sure Mark talked about that too, is breaking through that wall of

whatever you're saying is not relevant. Of course they knew what they were doing was wrong. How could they not have? They graduated high school, they drive a car, they've held a job, they've gone to college, whatever it is, nothing could be further from the truth. And that is our monumental hurdle, and I'm sure Mark talked about that too, is breaking through that wall of

whatever you're saying is not relevant. Of course they knew what they were doing was wrong. How could they not have? They graduated high school, they drive a car, they've held a job, they've gone to college, whatever it is, nothing could be further from the truth. And that is our monumental hurdle, and I'm sure Mark talked about that too, is breaking through that wall of

complete misunderstanding. And you know, in the criminal justice system, people are inherently skeptical about defense lawyers to begin with, that we're just trying to get our clients off and lie and cheat and sell snake oil. So when it comes to autism, a lot of prosecutors call it the excuse du jour. Oh, this doesn't really make a difference, but so what? He has it. He's high-functioning.

complete misunderstanding. And you know, in the criminal justice system, people are inherently skeptical about defense lawyers to begin with, that we're just trying to get our clients off and lie and cheat and sell snake oil. So when it comes to autism, a lot of prosecutors call it the excuse du jour. Oh, this doesn't really make a difference, but so what? He has it. He's high-functioning.

complete misunderstanding. And you know, in the criminal justice system, people are inherently skeptical about defense lawyers to begin with, that we're just trying to get our clients off and lie and cheat and sell snake oil. So when it comes to autism, a lot of prosecutors call it the excuse du jour. Oh, this doesn't really make a difference, but so what? He has it. He's high-functioning.

And so that means his autism is mild. I don't think your listeners can see these air quotes that I'm putting up, but I hate those terms.

And so that means his autism is mild. I don't think your listeners can see these air quotes that I'm putting up, but I hate those terms.

And so that means his autism is mild. I don't think your listeners can see these air quotes that I'm putting up, but I hate those terms.

They don't tell the truth about the true struggles of an autistic person. Yes, they can have a decent IQ, maybe even a high IQ.

They don't tell the truth about the true struggles of an autistic person. Yes, they can have a decent IQ, maybe even a high IQ.

They don't tell the truth about the true struggles of an autistic person. Yes, they can have a decent IQ, maybe even a high IQ.

But when you look at their emotional intelligence, their social intelligence, their receptive language skills, if you give some of these folks a test called the Vineland assessment, which is social adaptive language and adaptive skill set and all these things, they might come out as a 8, 9, 10, 11, 12-year-old child on these tests. When I try to explain to the decision makers why this is real,

But when you look at their emotional intelligence, their social intelligence, their receptive language skills, if you give some of these folks a test called the Vineland assessment, which is social adaptive language and adaptive skill set and all these things, they might come out as a 8, 9, 10, 11, 12-year-old child on these tests. When I try to explain to the decision makers why this is real,

But when you look at their emotional intelligence, their social intelligence, their receptive language skills, if you give some of these folks a test called the Vineland assessment, which is social adaptive language and adaptive skill set and all these things, they might come out as a 8, 9, 10, 11, 12-year-old child on these tests. When I try to explain to the decision makers why this is real,

couple of things i fall back on and i will say i don't want to create the impression that people on the spectrum are completely broken deficient in any way yes it is a disability but any disability can be overcome but i do think that it's a superpower and kryptonite all rolled into one it's that kryptonite aspect that we need to shine the light on and say okay how is this so debilitating