Petition: Stop electric shocks on special needs kids

Post Reply New Topic

I didn't realise how utterly sickened I'd be by this post. I cannot tell you how angry I am, and how sad I am for this boy.
Torture is NOT an effective means of punishment. This is sick and inhumane, and if I were to ever meet the person who performed such sick acts, I'd do to them as they did to this boy.

"At a “special needs school” in Canton, Massachusetts, children and teenagers with autism and other disabilities are being administered electric shocks as a means of controlling their behaviors."

Controlling their behaviours? They don't need controlling, they need compassion and patience. They are human beings, and their human rights shouldn't be impacted by their mental conditions.

"The human rights abuses taking place at the JRC are well documented. The United Nations is aware of the JRC and has called these shocks “torture”, and says that “The prohibition of torture is absolute.” Yet the school continues to use a powerfully painful electric shock device on students to control their behaviors. These devices are reportedly much stronger than police stun guns and were created by the founder of the Judge Rotenberg Center."

This is torture. Using torture to control someone's behaviour is inhumane and completely illogical. They might understand that bad behaviour is associated with pain, but on the long term, it will make them more aggressive.
Treating aggression with torture is just sick.

"Rather than shocking students for only severe behaviors, student behavior plans at JRC dictated that we shock certain students for even the most minor of behavioral issues like closing their eyes for 15 seconds while sitting at the desk, pulling apart a loose piece of thread, tearing an empty used paper cup, or for standing up and raising a hand to ask to go to the bathroom."

If the students were to attempt to grab knives, and attempt to murder or severely injure people, then this treatment wouldn't seem so radical.
Even then, I wouldn't stand by such cruel behaviour. But to do this for raising their hands? This is sick.

I hope they get treated to the very full extent of the law.

The U.S. Department of Justice has tried this or is still trying this. The article in the follwoing link is two years old and I couldn't find a more recent reference to the investigation.

http://www.educationnews.org/ednews_today/59610.html

The problem is that what they are doing doesn't seem to be against the law, within the context of this school. There have been attempts by disability advocacy groups to pass a law making it illegal and they have been able to convince congressmen to bring a bill to congress, but so far these bill attempts haven't passed. Each attempt brings some parents out of the woodwork who say their kid would be dead by self injury if it weren't for the shock policy (shocking anyone who self injures). So it gets voted down, most likely by congresspeople who wrongly assume that it is happening very, very rarely and only when somebody is about to kill themselves through self injury.

The Department of Justice seems to be pursuing this through the side door of discrimination against the disabled. They can't prosecute them for giving shocks because within the context of this school, it isn't illegal (attempts to make it illegal have failed). But the more vague charge of discrimination might work. It is illegal to do this to anyone else, including prisoners which ought to make it de facto discrimination.

I don't think this petition has any hope of accomplishing anything unless it is used to convince a congressperson to try again with a bill that outlaws it. I think that is worth doing because each new wave of elections brings people into congress who haven't encountered this before.

I know there are parents who truly believe this is all that saves their kid from death by self injury, but is it actually true? After all, there are people who seriously self injure who are being cared for in other institutions and being saved from fatal self injury in other ways- presumably restraining.


My googling update (I google as I write):

http://autisticadvocacy.org/2011/05/fac ... rg-center/

As of last year, the founder (who started the whole shock practice) was forced to resign and faces criminal charges. But notice that the charges he faces are not for shocking people, but rather for destroying an evidence tape and misleading a jury.




On the plus side, this means that if a bill is brought to congress again, there is a better chance of it passing since this news story will outweigh the parents who think that only shocking stops fatal self injury.

Part of the problem with nursing homes and a lot of other institutions is that they hire the wrong people who aren't qualified to do the job, cutbacks on funding as well as people who shouldn't be in nursing homes. Yeah, I'm sure there are documented cases of abuse in nursing homes, daycares and mental wards but those are just a small percentage and we all know how the media loves blowing things out of proportion. I'm not saying we should ignore these documented cases, we should be aware of these things but this kind of stuff doesn't happen everywhere and a lot of people who work in these places are hard working, kind workers who do it from the goodness of their heart. I think it's time nurses got a bit more respect, especially in nursing homes. The government needs to give out proper funding to health care, have strict policies and hire the proper, qualified people to do the job as well as send the patients to the right kind of institution based on their needs so that they have the proper stimulation.

With that being said, I've researched information about the JRC and I don't like how they use electric shocks at all. I don't care how violent the child is behaving, I don't think it's an acceptable use of guidance. I remember when I was a little girl in elementary school I was standing on the stage for choir rehearsal. I was told to move to one side and then move somewhere else and I didn't understand what the teacher was pointing to or trying to tell me because I have a hard time mirroring other people. She finally got impatient and slammed the bench right into my leg and my leg was bruised after that. I didn't cry but I was embarrassed and upset in my mind. It wasn't my fault I was confused. That's why I feel sorry for these JRC children who are getting these shocks, they're probably confused of what they're doing and then they get these shocks as punishment just because somebody doesn't want to spend one on one time with them? Please... If you run a school like that I think one on one time with teachers or at least small groups with a teacher who loves their jobs and uses proper guidance techniques would benefit them a lot better instead of traumatizing them for life and showing them that causing others physical pain is a proper form of punishment.

Reminds me of the shock conditioning in Aldus Huxley's book "Brave New World".

By God, I want to do something more than just sign a petion. I want to organize a rally outside the center, set off some firecracker, and get arrested. If such a thing happens it will make news, bring this issue into the eye of the masses. Only once the injustice is revealed to Everyman will we have the power to stop it.

Oh gosh. Yep.
That book was a good book, but disturbing on multiple levels.
More people need to read it.

Signed the petition, shared it, trying to get more signatures. This is barbaric, evil, inhuman, cruel, and a host of other adjectives I will not say here.

Signed -how horrible that in this day and age people can get away with using electric shock treatments-:x

i signed but im not american and there was no option for outside US people so now i live in san diego(i picked it because thats where comicon is)... bump anyway. im glad the JRC is getting some media coverage. i'll bet this crap isnt in any of their glossy brochures.

Unbelievable-I feel like I am going to be physically sick after watching that. What kind of messed up world do we live in...we now treat cattle better than our children....heaven help us...

petition signed and passed on-as heart wrenching as it is, thanks for posting it.

How are the parents of these children allowing this to happen?
This is insanity, a mental condition far worse than that which any of the aforementioned children have!
Given the option, I would electrocute everyone responsible. This actually made me want to seriously hurt someone!