A Safer Emergency Response: Recognizing the Individual, Not Just Autism

Please note there are hyperlinks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Hamilton, Ontario – October 2026 

Balance Support & Self Care Studios welcomes the Autism Alliance of Canada’s report, What We Heard: Building a Safer Emergency Response When People Go Missing. The report contributes to an important conversation about improving emergency responses, strengthening coordination and ensuring that the needs of autistic people are understood.

Following Parker Wells’ death, Balance issued two statements: one calling for meaningful action to improve safety and emergency responses, and another emphasizing that autism itself is not a cause of death. We believe both messages remain essential.

Autistic children can experience safety risks, including elopement or wandering. These concerns deserve serious attention, appropriate prevention resources and effective emergency responses. Families should not have to rely on individual vigilance alone. Governments, emergency services, schools and communities all have roles to play in building safer systems.

At the same time, recognizing a safety risk is not the same as attributing a death to autism. As we stated previously, when an autistic person dies, we must describe the circumstances accurately and examine any specific factors or systemic failures that may have contributed to the outcome. Autism should not be treated as an automatic marker of vulnerability, nor should a person’s life be reduced to their diagnosis.

The Autism Alliance of Canada’s report offers a useful framework for moving this discussion forward. It emphasizes assessing individual circumstances and functional risk rather than relying on diagnosis alone. It also identifies the importance of clear alert criteria, coordinated searches, autism-informed first-responder training, individualized safety planning, prevention and follow-up.

These priorities are consistent with our call for action. We particularly welcome the recognition that an alert is only one part of a broader emergency-response system.

We believe the work ahead should include:

• Clear and timely alert protocols: Establish criteria that support rapid action when a missing person faces an immediate risk of serious harm, with alerts targeted to the circumstances and geography of the incident.

• Practical, consistent training that is trauma-informed and neuro-affirming: Ensure that police, firefighters, paramedics, emergency dispatchers and search-and-rescue teams understand how communication differences, sensory distress and individual responses can affect an emergency interaction.

• Individualized safety planning and prevention: Provide families and individuals with access to appropriate information, resources and supports, without placing the entire burden of safety on them.

• Respect for autonomy and dignity: Ensure that safety measures are based on individual needs and circumstances rather than blanket assumptions about autistic people.

• Coordination and accountability: Review emergency responses, identify gaps and translate lessons learned into measurable improvements.

We also encourage decision-makers to consider how these priorities will be implemented in practice. What criteria will determine when an alert is issued? How will agencies coordinate when time is critical? How will training be maintained and evaluated? And how will people with lived experience help shape and assess the systems intended to protect them?

These questions matter because good intentions and broad commitments are not enough. Effective responses require clear procedures, appropriate resources, coordination and ongoing evaluation.

Safety must also be understood in a way that respects autistic people as individuals. Autism-informed support should help responders understand and adapt to a person’s needs; it should not reinforce the idea that autism itself is the problem. Where inadequate supports, discrimination, inaccessible services or other systemic barriers contribute to harm, those issues deserve careful examination and meaningful action.

We extend our continued condolences to Parker’s family, friends and everyone grieving his loss. Parker deserves to be remembered as a person whose life mattered, not simply as the focus of a debate about autism and risk.

Balance Support & Self Care Studios welcomes continued collaboration among autistic people, families, disability organizations, researchers, governments and emergency-response professionals. We hope this report helps move the discussion toward practical changes that improve emergency responses while protecting the dignity, autonomy and rights of autistic people.

Autistic people deserve safety, understanding and support. Building safer systems requires us to recognize individual needs, respond effectively to real risks and remain precise about the factors that contribute to harm.

For more information, please contact our team at balanceSSCS@gmail.com

Balance Support & Self Care Studios was created with parents and caregivers of individuals with diverse needs in mind. We recognize the value of the staff and community. We are committed to striving for excellence through inclusiveness, team collaboration, quality of services, and the participation and contributions of volunteers and community members. To learn more, please check out our website

-30-