Lori McIlwain

Lori is a longtime national advocate for autism safety, particularly in the areas of wandering/elopement and drowning prevention. After her son with autism eloped from multiple school settings beginning in the early 2000s, Lori began tracking missing-persons cases involving autistic individuals and ultimately built a national dataset that sounded the alarm on lethal outcomes before a federal committee. Her work revealed critical patterns, most notably the heightened risk of drowning, the presence of early-age suicidal ideation in young autistic children, and important insights into police interactions.

Over the last two decades, Lori has published two studies on lethal outcomes in wandering/elopement; developed national safety resources and training programs; and created the Big Red Safety Box® Program, the Meet the Police Initiative, the AWAARE Collaboration, and the Search Water First and 7 Is a Crisis Campaigns. These national initiatives were strengthened by Lori’s 30-year background in brand development, campaign creation, and message strategy, enabling her to build effective public education and awareness efforts. As co-founder of the National Autism Association, she also led efforts that resulted in a medical diagnostic code for wandering and the passage of Kevin & Avonte’s Law.

Lori is a longtime partner advocate of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and has played a key role in shaping national education, training, and federal guidelines. She has served on numerous expert panels and congressional briefings, consults on state initiatives and research studies, provides training to caregivers, law enforcement, educators, clinicians, and search-and-rescue professionals across the country, and reports annual data to federal and state collaborators.

Her New York Times op-ed, The Day My Son Went Missing, helped bring nationwide attention to the issue of wandering/elopement and missing persons in the autism community. Connect with Lori on LinkedIn.