Leonard Cravens Law Office

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12/14/2023

This is post I originally did a few days ago to a page for autistic folks were were late diagnosed (age 61 for me). But I wanted to share it with everyone. For local attorneys, the offending courtroom noise was in S201, and the judge who handled the issue appropriately was Judge John M. Monterosso. I hope it get fixed soon! I have edited the original post a little.

I had an experience in court yesterday that I was able to educate 30+ attorneys about what it's like to have sensory issues related to being autistic. In this case there was a very irritating sound in this particular courtroom. It had been going on for several weeks, but nobody did anything about it (I go to this particular courthouse infrequently). I started feeling anxious and realizing the sound was gonna cause a meltdown. As soon as there was a break between cases, I announced "As an autistic person, this noise was gonna cause me to have a meltdown!". I had already given my autism speech to this particular judge, so he knew. He said "you may wait outside the courtroom, we will come get you when your case is called". When my case was called, the judge moved the case to another courtroom where there was no irritating sound and my preliminary hearing was completed with the same judge with no issues.
I never had sensory issues relating to sounds until that day. But others people I have met online have posted frequently about this issue, so I recognized the issue immediately.
The one thing that amazes me is that none of the other attorneys or other court staff complained to facilities about the noise before I did (probably from the florescent lights). The noise was irritating, even to non-autistic folks, but nothing was done about it until I complained. This is why I'm openly autistic, to educate about autism and to erase the stigma attached to being autistic!