The Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts, has been using electroshock behavior “therapy” on disabled children and adults for 30 years. This practice has been heavily protested. In March of 2020, the FDA issued a ban of using electroshock on disabled people. However, this ban was quickly overturned by the Federal Court of Appeals on the grounds that the FDA did not have the authority to make such a decision.
The United Nations has declared the use of electroshock to be torture, yet this practice continues to be legal.
We asked the Autistic community how they feel about the use of electroshock as punishment for disabled children and adults.
Here are some of their responses:
It is really messed up. Especially seeing that shocking a DOG is banned but shocking ANOTHER PERSON IS FINE.Anonymous
Horrified. This is obviously child abuse and assault.Anonymous
It is truly horrifying. These children are people – they’re human beings with the same worth and feelings as any other person. Autistic behaviors are not something to be punished for, let alone TORTURED for. Everyone exists and behaves in their own unique way, and JRC’s attempt to change a person by abusing them in countless ways is disturbing to say the least.V Souza
See here for more survey responses.
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Suggested Script:
The Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts, is the last remaining location in the world to use a practice deemed by the United Nations to be torture. I am calling today to urge you to support MA Bill H.225 by Gregoire of Marlborough: “An Act regarding the use of aversive therapy.”
A GED is a graduated electronic decelerator (GED). For decades, the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) in Canton, Massachusetts, has been using GEDs to shape the behaviors of children and adults using painful electroshock. The GED is worn by students 24 hours per day, every day— even during sleep and showers. It looks like a backpack with wires coming out of it that have electrodes on them. The electrodes are strapped to a disabled person’s body—often a child— and that is the point of contact where the shocks as punishment will singe their skin, at times causing third degree burns.
I urge you to recognize this catastrophic failure of human rights and take action to prevent the continued torture of disabled people who deserve to have the same access to rights as their non-disabled peers.
You can write letters and mail them to your representatives at the following addresses:
Name of Representative
State House
24 Beacon St.
Room #[see below]#
Boston, MA, 02133
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