STOP THE SHOCK
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Photo of Diane Engster, Lydia X. Z. Brown, Shain M. Neumeier, Kathleen Nicole O’Neal, and Patrick T. Ayers. Photo by Taylor C. Hall. January 2013.
The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center (JRC) in Canton, Massachusetts is the only learning center in the United States to utilize shock therapy. According to JRC, around “29% of its 234 students are court-approved to receive shocks from a device called a ‘Graduated Electronic Decelerator,’ or GED" (ABC News). These devices are attached to students’ bodies or placed in their backpack, and they can deliver charges of up to 41 milliamps, which is almost 10 times the amperage in most stun guns. JRC first came under fire in 2012 when videotapes showed Andre McCollins refusing to take his coat off, and was then tied by his arms and legs to a restraint board, where he was shocked more than 30 times for over seven hours.
Children are being tormented and traumatized for actions they can not control. Inflicting pain on an individual in order to cure them of autism is not only ineffective, but a harmful act. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), shock therapy can result in skin burns, trauma, bruises, falls, oral injury, fractures, seizure complications, impacts on the heart, and more. It is these physical and mental injuries that prove shock therapy towards autistic individuals is truly a threat towards social justice. In March of 2020, the Food and Drug Administration banned the graduated electronic decelerator because of the harm it caused students. However, parents of students at the Judge Rotenberg Center petitioned this ban because they said that shock devices helped their children stop aggressive behavior. In July 2021, the FDA overturned the ban because they said they ban regulated medical practices, which the FDA is not allowed to do. Therefore, 55 of the 300 students at the JRC still receive shock therapy (Business Insider).
To me, it is critical to investigate this issue because of my close connection to autism. My twin brother, Marcus, is autistic and nonverbal. He has a difficult time adapting to social situations, changes in routine, and sensory overload. It fills me with extreme sadness to think that individuals like my brother are being subjected to painful shocks at an institution in my own community. One of the main “redeeming” qualities about forms of shock therapy for medicinal use is that individuals have the ability to reject such treatment. However, at institutions for autistic youth, individuals' parents are most likely signing off on shock therapy for them, and nonverbal students are not able to verbally advocate for themselves. With this, shock therapy is truly a social injustice, and I hope to educate others on the harms of shock therapy so that ultimately we can STOP THE SHOCK.
Stories that Survive
Highlighting Krista Cormier
Krista Cormier is from Fall River, Massachusetts and is a Judge Rotenberg Center survivor. In the video below, Krista explains why she supports Bill H2O to ban adversive devices (amplin plan) and shares her story. She was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) when she was in elementary school, but it was not until she was in her mid-twenties that she received an official Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Krista began her time at JRC when she was 17 years old and shares that she was discouraged to take medication that helped her. This is because JRC viewed adversive therapies, such as electric shocks and mechanical restraints, as helpful tools because they aimed to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior.
Cormier remarks about how six students have died at JRC, one including Silverio Gonzalez who died by suicide in 1998, but JRC simply pretended that this did not happen by saying they died by natural causes. Similarly, she says her parents signed her up for mechanical restraints, such as being strapped to a chair or board all day, because they were told they would only be used if she was aggressive towards others or a harm to herself, but was shocked for saying a swear out of frustration for example. Cormier has PTSD after her time at JRC after years and years of being told she wasn't doing something right and was then punished. I urge you to watch this entire video because it is incredibly heartbreaking, but also so eye opening and powerful. The way that the staff treated Cormier is truly despicable, and it is horrific to think that so many other students have been scarred by similar torture.
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