dc.contributor.author	Davis, Patrick P.
dc.date.accessioned	2021-09-03T14:14:45Z
dc.date.available	2021-09-03T14:14:45Z
dc.date.issued	2021-05
dc.identifier.other	5CB4BA9E-22C3-BAAD-4FC7-8388838135BC	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10428/5007
dc.description.abstract	Legislators passed laws giving individuals the option to obtain a state-issued autism spectrum disorder (ASD) identification card or add a designation to state-issued identification cards or driver’s licenses that inform first responders or others they have ASD. This qualitative study aims to measure public attitude and the value of ASD identification card laws and programs to inform public administrators and broader adoption efforts. The target population of this study was active Facebook users posting comments on ASD-related public pages. A total of 570 comments were sampled from three pages. Overall, the data suggest strong public support for ASD identification cards, with 71.05% of commenters indicating a moderately positive or very positive attitude towards the programs. Additionally, the qualitative analysis resulted in the development of three themes: recommendations, reasons for positive sentiment, and reasons for negative sentiment. The findings suggest the cards can address some of the main difficulties associated with ASD, such as bridging communication deficits; however, some commenters are skeptical that the cards will prove useful or sufficient for all circumstances. This skepticism possibly derives from the fact that none of the programs described directly address a fundamental characteristic of ASD: as the name indicates, it is a spectrum. As well-intentioned as ASD card programs and first responder training initiatives are, case studies demonstrate they will likely not be enough. Public administrators must reinvent emergency response services, and perhaps create a new mental health social worker response teams, to alleviate the policing burden of being mental health care workers. Only then will police resources be able to focus on their primary duties while the right professionals can assist those with mental health care challenges adequately. Keywords: autism, identification cards, police training, ASD, first responders, autism public attitudes	en_US
dc.description.tableofcontents	Chapter I: Introduction 1 -- Statement of the Problem 1 -- Purpose Statement 6 -- Theoretical Framework 6 -- Public Opinion and Policy 7 -- Community Policing 8 -- Mindblindness 11 -- Theoretical Framework Summary 12 -- Organization of the Study 12 -- Summary 14 -- Chapter II: Review Of Literature 16 -- Autism and First Responders 17 -- First Responder Training 23 -- Theory of Mind and Mindblindness 35 -- Public Opinion and Public Policy 39 -- Community Policing 41 -- Autism Identification Card Laws and Programs 43 -- Social Media Research 47 -- Summary 51 -- Chapter III: METHODOLOGY 53 -- Data Collection and Sampling 53 -- Ethics 56 -- Data Analysis Software 57 -- Data Processing 58 -- Automatic Sentiment Coding 58 -- Inductive Coding 59 -- Limitations of the Study… 61 -- Hypotheses 64 -- Summary 65 -- Chapter IV: RESULTS 66 -- Introduction 66 -- Data Collection 67 -- First Research Question: Sentiment Analysis 68 -- Second Research Question: Emergent Findings 71 -- First Theme: Recommendations 71 -- Second Theme: Prevailing Reasons for Positive Sentiment 72 -- Third Theme: Prevailing Reasons for Negative Sentiment 73 -- Case Studies 75 -- Second Research Question: Answers Based on Emergent Findings 77 -- Summary 78 -- Chapter V: CONCLUSION 80 -- Overview 80 -- Interpretation of Outcomes 80 -- Research Question 1 80 -- Research Question 2 82 -- First Theme: Recommendations 82 -- Second Theme: Reasons for Positive Sentiment 85 -- Third Theme: Reasons for Negative Sentiment 86 -- Reason for Disparities 89 -- Recommendations 90 -- Conclusion 92 -- References 96 -- Appendix A: Institutional Review Board (IRB) Exemption 109	en_US
dc.format.extent	1 electronic document, 122 pages. 873529 bytes.	en_US
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.rights	This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.	en_US
dc.subject	Dissertations, Academic--United States	en_US
dc.subject	Autism	en_US
dc.subject	Identification cards	en_US
dc.subject	Police training	en_US
dc.subject	First responders	en_US
dc.subject	Autism--Social aspects	en_US
dc.title	Autism Spectrum Disorder Identification Card Programs: Public Attitude and Themes	en_US
dc.type	Dissertation	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Department of Political Science of the College of Humanities & Social Sciences	en_US
dc.description.advisor	Peterson, Bonnie E.
dc.description.committee	Peterson, James W.
dc.description.committee	Rabidoux, Greg R.
dc.description.degree	D.P.A.	en_US
dc.description.major	Public Administration	en_US