According to Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton, all deputies have now been sensory inclusive certified through a partnership with Kulture City.
Kulture City is a local nonprofit organization promoting sensory awareness and inclusion for people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The training is intended to help deputies to better serve people on the autism spectrum or those persons with disabilities.
“This training has allowed us to raise awareness for our deputies and get a better understanding of how to communicate with those on the spectrum,” said Horton. “Most times, as law enforcement officers our training tells us to look at body language and we look and see what they’re doing. This training will help us to be mindful of those things and what we need to be looking for differently. It caters to everyone with sensory needs not just autism. This includes military veterans with PTSD, adults with dementia and Parkinson’s disease and stroke patients, just to name a few.”
Deputies will now have sensory inclusive bags in their vehicles to better help them serve the citizens of Etowah County. Each bag includes noise-reducing headphones, marble fidget device, noodle fidget device, tangle fidget device, visual cue card and ID card with breakaway lanyard.