Silver Alert NY - Jan-Christer Jivestrand, 62, tourist from Sweden, has autism, non-verbal, got separated from family, Manhattan, 10 Apr 2024

[GuyfromCanada]

#SilverAlert Jan-Christer Jivestrand M/W/62, Tourist from Sweden. If seen, call 9-1-1. Multilingual & ASL Link: http://on.nyc.gov/1ZlUYf1.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1778269470110236677

Short video at link Search continues for missing NYC tourist with autism

 

[GuyfromCanada]

NYC is huge, this is very alarming. I hope that Jan-Christer will be found safe very soon.

 

[Stunned]

So he's nonverbal but multilingual. I wonder what languages he understands?

 

[LadyL]

hopefully he understands English or he will be terrified of strangers trying to help him

 

[Rolypolyoly]

I wish they would give more information, saying he has autism isn't very helpful, it's a broad spectrum!. Also, a lot of people hear 'non verbal' and equate that with learning disabilities and little understanding, but that's not always the case and if Jan-Christer is multilingual does that mean he understands multiple languages and he can communicate in multiple languages? Is it only ASL that he uses to communicate?

Is he able to manage on his own or will he be frightened, or anywhere in between?

Hoping for him to be found safely and quickly.

 

[annpats]

I do wonder about the difficulties in taking severely autistic people on long-haul holidays.

Getting to the airport, and the long flight alone must be very distressing and out them out of their comfort zone....plus the hustle and bustle of NYC itself. Not to mention not being able to stick to a normal schedule he may be used to.

Not an ideal situation.

I'm already following a case here on websleuths from a week ago, where a man in his 60s with dementia has gone missing while on a cruise, when the ship was docked in Cozumel, Mexico.

Why do families take people with severe additional needs on such complex vacations? It's not fair on them.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

I wish they would give more information, saying he has autism isn't very helpful, it's a broad spectrum!. Also, a lot of people hear 'non verbal' and equate that with learning disabilities and little understanding, but that's not always the case and if Jan-Christer is multilingual does that mean he understands multiple languages and he can communicate in multiple languages? Is it only ASL that he uses to communicate?

Is he able to manage on his own or will he be frightened, or anywhere in between?

Hoping for him to be found safely and quickly.

I read the flyer to mean that at the link, there's multilingual and ASL versions. moo

 

[sunflowermomma]

We know nothing about his support needs beyond the fact that he's nonverbal, but he is multilingual. Nonverbal is not "severe additional needs" imo.

 

[realanastasia]

Was he traveling alone? What was his purpose in coming to NYC? That area of the city is busy and safe enough that I would not expect him to have been accosted by a nefarious character (IMO). It is not really a tourism hotspot, though, so I wonder if he had booked lodging in that neighborhood and got lost trying to navigate to his hotel/Airbnb.
Correct me if i’m wrong, but isn’t NYC one of the most heavily surveilled cities in the world? If so, then surely the NYPD must have footage of him up until his disappearance—hopefully this will assist in tracking him down.

 

[Rikissa]

I did check up JCJ on some Swedish sites, there are not that much information, but I found out that he lives on his own in a flat, and he's been living there since 1984, so I don't think he's totally unable to manage on his own. He do have some kind of assistance from the Swedish social security system, as Sweden has a law (Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments) to make it possible for people with different impairments to be able to live on their own. How much help and support JCJ has/needs I don't know.

 

[annpats]

We know nothing about his support needs beyond the fact that he's nonverbal, but he is multilingual. Nonverbal is not "severe additional needs" imo.

On the contrary, I think not being able to speak constitutes quite high additional needs.

If you can't communicate, that's a major issue.

 

[sunflowermomma]

On the contrary, I think not being able to speak constitutes quite high additional needs.

If you can't communicate, that's a major issue.

Agree to disagree - nonverbal does not mean unable to communicate. Many disabilities, like deafness, can make people nonverbal, but they still move through society like speaking/hearing people. I think we should not make assumptions about Jan's support needs and level of independence until we know more. Or at least consider that nonverbal does not mean noncommunicative.

 

[Rolypolyoly]

On the contrary, I think not being able to speak constitutes quite high additional needs.

If you can't communicate, that's a major issue.

Who says he can't communicate? He uses ASL, he could write. Being non verbal doesn't automatically mean someone can't communicate at all.

 

[LemonMint]

Can’t find any updates

 

[azure]

I'm pretty convinced that Jan was not multilingual or proficient in ASL. If you go to the link, it has his missing info in a bunch of different languages and a video of it in ASL. I think that is what the tweet was referring to.

missing-silver-1 - NYCEM

 

[Rikissa]

I'm pretty convinced that Jan was not multilingual or proficient in ASL. If you go to the link, it has his missing info in a bunch of different languages and a video of it in ASL. I think that is what the tweet was referring to.

Was the ASL-message in the American Sign Language? If so, then it's not certain that JCJ would understand it, as there is a huge difference between Swedish Sign Language and the American one, they are not similar even if both are sign languages. If he's deaf, then he might have learnt some ASL in school, the same way hearing students study English in Sweden, and he has most likely learnt reading and writing English, as English is an obligatory subject in Swedish schools.

JCJ lives is Greater Stockholm, and have been living independently for almost 40 years, so my guess is that he's able to communicate with hearing people.

 

[azure]

Was the ASL-message in the American Sign Language? If so, then it's not certain that JCJ would understand it, as there is a huge difference between Swedish Sign Language and the American one, they are not similar even if both are sign languages. If he's deaf, then he might have learnt some ASL in school, the same way hearing students study English in Sweden, and he has most likely learnt reading and writing English, as English is an obligatory subject in Swedish schools.

JCJ lives is Greater Stockholm, and have been living independently for almost 40 years, so my guess is that he's able to communicate with hearing people.

Yes, and the message wasn't directed at JCJ, it was directed at the public to notify them about the silver alert. It's posted in my post #15.

 

[Daisyeve]

Are there more pictures ? I’m in NYC in several different areas daily and not sure I would recognize him from that one pic.

 

[wendybtn]

No updates found.