Autistic Disorder

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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on November 12, 2009 at 10:16pm

From Wikipedia:

The autism spectrum, also called autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or autism spectrum conditions (ASC), with the word autistic sometimes replacing autism, is a spectrum of psychological conditions characterized by widespread abnormalities of social interactions and communication, as well as severely restricted interests and highly repetitive behavior.[1]

If you understand "SAFETY FIREST!!!" why would you try and make it "legal" for this individual to respond? Beyond the altruistic motive you would potentially be putting the individual as well as other responders in jeopardy.

Is this a Fire Department or a social club?

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Permalink Reply by Ralph L. Carr IV on November 13, 2009 at 12:27am

Dan, No offence, but I have to agree with Jack. My sister teaches autistic kids. There is a wide range of ability and disability under the "autisim" brand. There are many ways members with special needs can be an important part of the department team without being in a response capacity.

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Permalink Reply by Oldman on November 13, 2009 at 1:23pm

I'm in agreement with Jack and Ralph. Liability not only for his safety and well being, but also those around him as well. Depending on the degree of autism, he might be able assist in a supportive role, such as rehab. Maybe handing out cold towels and water doesn't sound like much, but if you are the one who needs refreshing, then you are really thankful someone is there to hand them to you.

I think I'll go lay down now. To agree with Jack and Ralph on the same topic at the same time...

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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on November 13, 2009 at 1:24pm

enjoy your nap, oldman... ;)

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Permalink Reply by Nick xLTx on November 13, 2009 at 1:01am

We have a guy with Williams Syndrone in our fire department, he's treated as a "full" member so to say but more less he falls into the "honorary" member status. We don't take him to any major call if he's at the station but he also knows to stay in the rig once we get there.

Of course Williams and Autism is 2 TOTALLY different beasts

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Permalink Reply by Alan Shaw on November 13, 2009 at 9:12am

OK, I am confused.

Why would a department admit a member that has a specific disability that precludes responding to and working on calls? Because someone will reply with it, the ADA only required that reasonable accommodations be made in order for the member to work. The idea of taking someone on fire truck rides and having them sit in the rig, seems to me to incur MORE liability not less than simply telling the member that the fire service may not be an option for them.

The only way to make something legal that is currently not legal is to change the relevant laws. I am cont sure what laws you want to change, perhaps mandatory training, so that a candidate not be required to take practical or written tests? Such efforts do nothing to make the individual a firefighter and in the long run only hurt the baseline professionalism that many of us are trying hard to maintain.

I understand that the role of a volunteer fire department is largely community based, and that there is a very important social aspect to many of our departments, but we must remember that we are here to run a fire department first and a social club second. There is no requirement that everyone who wanders in the door be admitted as a member.

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Permalink Reply by Ralph L. Carr IV on November 13, 2009 at 12:07pm

My step brother applied and went thru FF 1 at his local department in Ohio. He could not pass a written test. He has reading retention issues. He asked for and was given an oral test, again he failed. I hated to see him hurting because he failed BUT I`d rather he be hurt by that fact instead of doing something on the fireground that injured himself or others because he didn`t comprehend the training.

The whole "social club" attitude about fire departments in some regions scares me.

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Permalink Reply by John Rulli Jr. on November 13, 2009 at 9:54am

No brainer. They have no right on the fire ground sorry. You said it your self "SAFETY FIRST"

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Permalink Reply by Alan Shaw on November 13, 2009 at 7:34pm

In my Firefighter 1 class was a student from another department in the next town over who just seemed slow, both to fellow students and to the instructors. We even had one instructor who tried to work one on one with him, to no avail. He even showed up for SCBA night with a broken SCBA and an empty bottle, so our instructors loane him one of ours. Eventually he was dropped from the class.

Fast forward a couple of years later, I was taking Firefighter 2 in another department in that town. The guy was now a member of this station. He proudly told us he was responsible for sweeping up the floors when they guys took the trucks out. I admit it, I still didn't get it. What was this guy doing in a fire station?

Much later I met a guy from this members first department and got some background on him. He was thrown out of the first department for a theft, but there were more than a few members who though he just didn't know it was wrong to take what he took. He was reportedly from a wealthy family that donated much to the local departments and he wanted to be a firefighter, so he was made one.

Now, I have no idea what this guys specific diagnosis was, and I haven't seen him in years, so I don't know how applicable this is to the topic of autism, but in general it seems to at least be a similar situation.

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Permalink Reply by Dustin J. Millis on November 18, 2009 at 4:40am

Yeah, I have to agree with everyone else on this. There is no room for error on a fire scene and bringing an autistic member to the call, even if they just ride the rig, is a huge liability and just plain wrong. It is unfair to that member as well as other members to be subjected to those safety violations.

We have had mentally handicapped individuals apply to our dept. We always tell them the same thing... "Thank you for applying but we are unable to utilize someone with your disabilities as an active duty firefighter. We invite you to join our Auxilary membership."

Yeah, it always kinda sucks when you have to look a handicapped person in the eye and tell them that, however; I would rather have to go through that, rather then seeing that individual become injured, or injure myself or another ff while on scene.

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