"Congress is moving to ban devices used to administer electric shocks on people with developmental disabilities in an effort to modify their behavior, a practice that advocates have long decried as torturous." - Quote from article about recent updates
The disability community has been fighting for many years at this point to ban punitive shock therapy as part of so-called "treatment" for conditions such as autism. Autism rights groups like Neuroclastic and The Autistic OT have been campaigning for years protesting problematic and unjust treatment methods used on disability populations.
These groups organized a protest this past Saturday, including both on-the-ground and online venues. A recoding of that protest can be found here. Dozens of professionals, advocates, and survivors lent their perspectives.
The shocks being used by groups such as the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) treatment facility are six times more powerful than tasers used by the police. There is no medical backing for employing this form of punitive treatment. It is not treatment. It is torture.
“I have issues with apraxia, a mind-body disconnect in which my body does things that I don’t want it to. … The thought that people are being shocked at JRC over similar behavior is terrifying to say the least. The way I was helped was being surrounded by compassion, not punishment. … Such barbaric treatment of people with a physical reason for their issues needs to be stopped.”
- Gregory Tino, Disability Rights Advocate
An effort to push through legislation against shock devices failed at the state level earlier this month. We applaud the House of Representatives for continuing to fight for disability rights, and will not rest until these devices of torture are finally outlawed.
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