[Blindtlk] Abuse of Blind Children

Brian Miller brianrmiller88 at gmail.com
Tue May 22 19:25:47 UTC 2012


Hi peter,

What is chapter 766?

Thanks,

Brian M
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org 
> [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Peter Donahue
> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 2:43 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: [Blindtlk] Abuse of Blind Children
> 
> Hello Steve and everyone,
> 
>     While I can't speak for repressive agencies in other 
> states I have been assured that the Boston Center for Blind 
> Children no longer exists. They're no longer able to do their 
> "Dirty work" on the blind children in that state.I read that 
> the JRC is not specifically for the blind. It's just sad that 
> a few blind children were placed there; something that 
> officials in Massachusetts and other states could have prevented.
> 
>     The Perkins School for the Blind enjoys a favorable 
> reputation with its students, staff, and alumni and never had 
> a record of abusing blind students although they could have 
> done things to prevent students with behavioral issues from 
> being bounced around from one institution to another as I was. 
> Rather than "Expelling" me after my kindergarten year they 
> could have told my mother what was observed by the staff who 
> delt with me and suggested that I have medical and 
> psychological evaluations during the summer of 1964. A 
> diagnosis could have been made and treatment begun before I 
> returned to Perkins that fall something that never 
> happened.If Perkins followed the aabove course of action they 
> would have protected myself and others from the kind of abuse 
> we experienced at the hands of these tyrants! Had there been 
> IEPS or the National Organization of Parents of Blind 
> Children and strong NFB Affiliates our parents could have 
> reached out to for support and to advocate on our behalffor a 
> more favorable outcome and to prevent what happened to us back then.
> 
>     One thing Chapter 766 did in the early 1970s is that it 
> gave places like Perkins a "Wake-up" call. This is the 
> ancestor to the Education of the Handicapped Act that among 
> other things mandated that disabled students attend public 
> schools rather than specialized schools for them. Perhaps 
> fearing that they would be without students to teach Perkins 
> readmitted students dismissed in the 1960s including myself 
> in the fall of 1973. The events concerning my transfer back 
> to Perkins from the Oak Hill School for the Blind are 
> commonly referred to in my family as "The 1973 Uprising." 
> While other parents we knew questioned our wish to "dare to 
> take on the powers that be" in the end we didn't care. 
> Perkins came clean with us and it felt good to see those 
> tyrants finally "Get theirs!" I graduated from Perkins in 1975.
> 
>     It's obvious from reading this thread that I was not 
> alone. While our affiliates should not serve as a "Police 
> force" to insure that agencies for the blind in cluding 
> schools for the blind are doing the right thing they can 
> reach out to parents and guardians of blind children and 
> youth considering placement in such a facility upon request. 
> This is something we've said for years. Sharing accounts of 
> this kind will help them formulate questions to ask when 
> considering such placements to insure tomorrows blind 
> youngsters will not be subjected to the same abuse we 
> experienced while growing up. If we can keep that from 
> happening we will have done our job.
> 
> Peter Donahue
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Jacobson"
> <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
> To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; 
> <blinddog3 at charter.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 11:51 AM
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Fw: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I may have missed something, but at least some of what I read 
> seemed to have occurred some time ago.
> That doesn't make what was done right by any means, but do we 
> know what the current state is?
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Steve Jacobson
> 
> On Mon, 21 May 2012 18:39:46 -0500, Steven Johnson wrote:
> 
> >Ray,
> >The unfortunate part of this whether true or not, is that 
> children are 
> >vulnerable, and even more so, children with disabilities even more 
> >vulnerable.  There are way too many cases where children are 
> >restrained, abused, neglected or punished in cruel and 
> unusal ways.  If 
> >this story is indeed true, lets hope that Mass Department of Human 
> >Services along with the NFB can intervene.
> 
> >Steve
> 
> 
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org 
> [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
> >On Behalf Of Ray Foret Jr
> >Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 10:51 AM
> >To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> >Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Fw: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl
> 
> >Well well well, I just cannot believe this!!!  I just can't 
> figure in 
> >my mind how someone could abuse blind kids.  Then again, I 
> shouldn't be 
> >one to talk; considering the fact that I was almost 
> strangled to death 
> >in my dormitory room.  Were it not for a cousin who was 
> living in Baton 
> >Rouge at the time and who took me in, I would most likely 
> have had to 
> >move to another state and gone to another blind school and goodness 
> >knows what all might have happened then.
> 
> 
> >Sincerely,
> >The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!!
> 
> >Now a very proud and happy Mac user!!!
> 
> >Skype name:
> >barefootedray
> 
> >Facebook:
> >facebook.com/ray.foretjr.1
> 
> 
> 
> >On May 21, 2012, at 10:18 AM, Gloria Whipple wrote:
> 
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> When my twin brother and I were attending the state school for the 
> >> blind
> >in Vancouver, My brother and other needy children were tied to hot 
> >radiators by one of the house parents.
> >>
> >> One of our fellow students got into a lot of trouble freeing them.
> >>
> >> Sorry for rambling on, but this kind of stuff angers me!
> >>
> >> Gloria Whipple
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org 
> >> [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> >> On Behalf Of Peter Donahue
> >> Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 07:42
> >> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> >> Cc: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)
> >> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Fw: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl
> >>
> >> Good morning everyone,
> >>
> >>    I'm originally from Massachusetts and am troubled to 
> learn that if 
> >> indeed this is true a place like this still exists. There was an 
> >> outfit located in Jamaica Plane called the Boston Center for Blind 
> >> Children which although they didn't use electric shock to punish 
> >> students they used many other harsh methods such as 
> holding someone 
> >> in a take-down by lying them on their stomachs, pulling 
> their hands 
> >> behind their backs and sitting on them for what seemed 
> like hours at 
> >> a time. I know because it happened to me for three long 
> years. Other 
> >> harsh and abusive methods were used on occasion as well. 
> If the JRC 
> >> is the successor to the Boston Center For Blind Children 
> it's a shame 
> >> that this place is still in business. They should have 
> been convicted 
> >> of
> >child abuse/endangerment and shut down many years ago.
> >>
> >>    This is all the more the reason to establish strong NOPBC 
> >> Affiliates in all 50 states including Massachusetts. It's 
> better to 
> >> have a national network of parents of blind children to set the 
> >> standards for how blind kids are educated, and to serve as a 
> >> "Watch-dog" to ensure that outfits like the BCBC and the 
> JRC are put 
> >> out of business so they will never harm another blind child!
> >>
> >>    While I would like to believe that this is not true as one who 
> >> personally experienced such abusive treatment by so-called schools 
> >> for the blind in Massachusetts it doesn't surprise me that 
> an outfit 
> >> like this exists.
> >>
> >> Peter Donahue who hopes and prays that there will soon be an 
> >> affiliate of the National Organization of Parents of Blind 
> Children 
> >> in Massachusetts to truly create a future full of 
> possibilities for 
> >> blind
> >kids in the Bay State.
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Sherri" <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
> >> To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
> >> Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 6:26 AM
> >> Subject: [Blindtlk] Fw: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl
> >>
> >>
> >> I am passing this along in hopes that all will sign. This is just 
> >> unbelievable. Even my County Disability Coordinator shared 
> this. Thanks.
> >>
> >> Sherri
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: Samme.Ripley at ocfl.net
> >> Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 12:06 PM
> >> Subject: FW: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl
> >>
> >>
> >> Sharing........this video can be very compelling for those 
> familiar 
> >> with electric shocking of disabled students in past years.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> .Samme
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> From: Sherri [mailto:flmom2006 at gmail.com]
> >> Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2012 6:00 PM
> >> To: Ripley, Samme
> >> Subject: Fw: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Do you know anything about this? This is outrageous if it's true!
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Sherri
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >>
> >> From: Jon Perri, Change.org
> >>
> >> To: flmom2006 at gmail.com
> >>
> >> Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2012 4:39 PM
> >>
> >> Subject: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>                  VIDEO: Special needs student electroshocked. Tell 
> >> his Massachusetts school to stop using electroshock 
> devices on children.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>                  Sign Gregory's Petition
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>            Sherri -
> >>
> >>            In 2002, a special needs student named Andre 
> McCollins was 
> >> allegedly strapped down and electrocuted for hours, 
> leaving him with 
> >> permanent brain damage, all because he refused to take off 
> his jacket.
> >> The people torturing Andre were officials at his school. You can 
> >> watch what happened on video.
> >>
> >>            The video was shot at a Massachusetts school 
> for special 
> >> needs kids called the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC). Gregory Miller 
> >> used to be a teacher there, and he says electrocuting kids as 
> >> punishment is extremely common -- even for minor offenses like 
> >> raising your hand to go to the bathroom.
> >>
> >>            "A non-verbal, nearly blind girl with cerebral 
> palsy was 
> >> shocked for attempts to hold a staff member's hand -- her 
> attempts to 
> >> communicate and to be loved," Gregory says.
> >>
> >>            Gregory desperately wants to help the kids at the JRC - 
> >> that's why he started a petition on Change.org demanding 
> that the JRC 
> >> stop using electroshock to punish kids. Click here to add 
> your name.
> >>
> >>            Gregory says the JRC's founder created electroshock 
> >> devices which are even stronger than police stun guns to punish 
> >> students for bad behavior. An official at the United Nations said 
> >> that using these devices on children is considered torture.
> >>
> >>            According to the Boston Globe, the JRC's 
> founder resigned 
> >> after being charged with misleading a grand jury by 
> destroying video 
> >> footage of other students being shocked.
> >>
> >>            Gregory believes that if thousands of people sign his 
> >> petition, his former bosses will capitulate in the intense 
> pressure 
> >> generated by a national spotlight.
> >>
> >>            Click here to sign Gregory's petition demanding 
> that the 
> >> JRC immediately cease its practice of punishing special needs kids 
> >> with electroshock devices.
> >>
> >>            Thanks for being a change-maker,
> >>
> >>            - Jon and the Change.org team
> >>
> >>            This email was sent by Change.org to 
> flmom2006 at gmail.com   |
> >> Start a petition
> >>            Unsubscribe. Edit your email notification settings.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> 
> 
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