Like many parents, Camille Proctor went to her first support group for parents of children with autism to feel less alone. Her son Hunter had just been diagnosed, and Proctor had lots of questions. All of the other parents at the various support groups she went on to visit were white; Proctor is African American. When she asked questions about how she should teach her son to interact with police, given that the wrong response by a black boy or man could be deadly, she just got blank stares.
“They had no idea how to respond,” Proctor says.
For its part, she says, the black community didn’t seem to understand what it was like to raise a child with autism. Her son Hunter’s repetitive behaviors, like flapping his hands and rocking back and forth (known as “stimming”), and emotional meltdowns were seen as bad behavior rather than signs of autism. When her son was screaming in Macy’s because he was overstimulated, a black salesperson went up to Proctor and told her Hunter “just needed his butt whipped.” Proctor felt utterly alone and misunderstood. Her dogged determination ultimately got her son the services he needed to thrive, but she knew other parents weren’t as lucky. She also knew that many other black children had autism just like Hunter, and that they were probably feeling just as isolated and scared as she was.
[For more of this story, written by Carrie Arnold, go to https://psmag.com/autisms-race...23223d4a5#.jcggue2um]
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