The quiz was really easy.
Who was the first president of the United States? What’s 39 plus 16? What does UFO stand for?
But test-taking conditions were less than ideal.
A group of sheriff’s deputies would have to read the 10 questions through 3D glasses as a loudspeaker blared disjointed music, speech and static. Right-handed people would be required to write their answers legibly with their left, and vice versa.
At the end of the 60 seconds allotted for the quiz, most people hadn’t finished. Some said they felt frustrated because they knew the answers and couldn’t write them down.
That was just a hint of what it’s like to be autistic, said Kate Movius of Autism Interaction Solutions, who included the quiz in a recent training session at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s substation.
Amid increased public scrutiny of law enforcement tactics, some Southern California agencies - including the LAPD, the Orange Police Department, the Los Angeles School Police Department and others - have started specialized training to help officers read the signs of autism and respond appropriately.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s City of Industry substation began offering such training in January at the request of City Councilwoman Cory Moss, whose eight-year-old son has autism.
"The deputies have been telling us they’re really learning," Moss said. "A lot of times, they’ll say, ‘I didn’t know what I didn’t know."
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