As a psychologist who works with children with autism and their families, as well as being a parent of a child with autism myself, one of the constant fears is of going out in public is having your child have a frightening meltdown, harming oneself or others and having Child Protective Services called on you by others, when you’re trying to calm or restrain the child. There are tools and techniques which help (either I or my daughter’s nanny has a “Nonverbal Autism” tag on our bags notifying others she has Autism). We’ve had clients who have had CPS called on them and the ensuing process is frightful for the child and parent and airplane trips are especially anxiety provoking. The more people understand about autism the better.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-40717652