Kalamazoo, MI: Police revise autism stickers;

July 29, 2025, WWMT, Kalamazoo, MI: Virtual reality training and community input help shape sheriff's autism awareness program

The Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) revised its autism awareness sticker program, initially launched late June, following community feedback.

The program, which aims to help law enforcement discreetly identify individuals with autism, now offers four different sticker designs, including two featuring an infinity symbol to better represent those on the spectrum.

"One of the things that sometimes is misunderstood, I think, about police officers, is that they know exactly what's going on inside of a vehicle when they pull it over, or that they'll have a total understanding of everybody in there and how they are. That's inaccurate," KCSO Sheriff Richard Fuller said.

Initially, the sheriff's office announced the program via a Facebook post, revealing two separate stickers. Both stickers depicted red, green, yellow, and blue puzzle pieces, and a notice that a child or individual with autism is in the vehicle.

The puzzle piece symbol is commonly associated with nationally recognized non-profit, Autism Speaks, which adopted the symbol as their logo in 2005. According to the Autism Speaks website, "The puzzle piece, with its current spectrum of colors, is meant to be representative of the spectrum of perspectives and experiences autistic people may have."

Due to the controversy and long-standing criticism surrounding Autism Speaks, some autistic people, advocates, and allied organizations have strayed away from the puzzle piece symbol depicted in KCSO's initial stickers.

"We said, 'wait, did we get this wrong?'" Fuller said, following hundreds of comments criticizing the department's use of the puzzle piece.

"I'm very annoyed about the puzzle pieces as the parent of an autistic person," one Facebook commentor wrote.

Another community member explained their issue with the sticker design, stating, "The reason the puzzle piece is so controversial is because it's seen as someone needs to be 'fixed' in order to 'fit in' society."

"There are different opinions, differing opinions, and I want people to recognize that we listen to all of them," Fuller said.

After consulting with community advocates and concerned parents, the department introduced two new sticker designs, replacing the puzzle pieces with a rainbow colored infinity symbol, which some commentors said better represents those on the autism spectrum.

"We are always very excited to see any initiatives that move forward with education or awareness or ways to help support a lot of our consumers and their families and caregivers. We especially appreciate the fact that law enforcement is willing to work with the community and is incorporating feedback and recognizing the need for ongoing progress with these programs," Kalise Stewart, clinical supervisor at the Kalamazoo Autism Center, said.

In addition to the sticker program, the sheriff's office is utilizing virtual reality training to prepare officers for real-world interactions with individuals who have communication difficulties.

"There are individuals that have not yet developed their communication, may not be able to verbally communicate, and they may demonstrate some behaviors that could be perceived by others as non-compliant, not following directions, or they may have some other behaviors, such as physical aggression or some self-injury," Stewart said.

The program emphasizes the importance of law enforcement approaching slowly and minimizing stimuli to de-escalate high-stress situations for those on the spectrum. In the training, officers are presented with various scenarios with individuals on the spectrum, and can make choices along the way that influence the behavior of the individual either positively or negatively. They can see how poor choices escalate the situation and don't allow for productive or effective communication.