[Blindtlk] Fw: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl

Sat May 26 00:39:30 UTC 2012

Hi all!

I saw this come up in my email, I wanted to add some information that might
be useful to the discussion.

First all, I grew up in Massachusetts and in my pre-mommy life, I worked as
an educational liaison/advocate for kids committed to the custody of the
Massachusetts Department of Youth Services. There are actually several
Rotenberg Centers in Massachusetts, run by different organizations for very
different purposes, Judge Rotenberg must have been a popular guy! I married
a military officer, so I left for eight years, but I have been back for a
little less than a year in MA.

The one being spoken of here is the Judge Rotenberg Center is Canton, MA.
They have been the JRC for as long as I have known, and I do not believe
they have operated under any other name. They have a long, sordid history
of controversy and there have been several unsuccessful attempts to have
them closed. The last big push to shut them down came in 2001-2002 when I
was still working for the Department, and it generated a lot of news and a
lot of concerted organized advocacy to get this school closed, but they
weathered through the period of publicity, laid low out of the news for a
while, and kept right on going.

The article posted originally is from the last great outcry to close JRC,
but this is actually still a very, very VERY current issue. There was just
a settlement between the JRC and the family of an autistic boy who was
repeatedly shocked as "discipline". His family caught it on video, of him
being shocked over thirty times and screaming for help. They settled out of
court in April,  but it has once again begun a small, not very well
publicized but still very genuine effort to try once again to get JRC
closed, or to ban them from using "aversive therapy" as a tool. Anderson
Cooper covered this most recent case on A360 a few days ago, and here is a
link
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/22/tonight-on-ac360-school-treats-autistic-students-with-electric-shocks/?hpt=ac_mid

One of the people leading the current charge against the JRC is Senator
Brian A. Joyce, who is the Massachusetts state senator who is elected and
serves on behalf of Canton, where the Rotenberg Center is located. He is an
outspoken critic of their practices and has introduced legislation to have
the practice banned, though right now that legislation hasn't gone anywhere
in the House.

Sen. Joyce is actually going to do a live chat on a local Canton website on
June 1st from 11:30-12:30 pm. You can see the details for that chat here:
http://canton.patch.com/articles/live-chat-with-sen-brian-a-joyce-on-the-judge-rotenberg-center

Anyone who is interested in protecting the rights of disabled children to
be free from abuse in their school environments should definitely think
about submitting a question, joining the live chat, or writing Sen. Joyce
directly. Of course, voices from Massachusetts itself are especially
valuable and welcoming.

Part of the long standing problem in affecting change at the Judge
Rotenberg Center is not only their firm belief in aversive "therapy", but
also in recruiting families who are willing to buy into and support their
use of aversive therapy. Make no mistake, they are very deliberate in this
and in their political strategy.... as evidenced by the fact that they are
still around, and still doing this to children right up to May 25th, 2012.

It will not stop without a concerted, systemic and sustained effort to make
it stop. I really hope that with Sen. Joyce leading the charge, there is a
real chance at getting this banned in the next legislative session, but it
is going to take a lot more voices than just Sen. Joyce in order to make
that happen.

Hope that helps,
Rene H.
Mom to five amazing wonderkids, including delightful Miss Clare, age 10,
Retinopathy of Prematurity, autism, developmental delay

On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 3:58 PM, Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com>wrote:

> Wow!! I sincerely hope and pray that this is not true, but if it is, this
> is very wrong, and I believe that all blind people should sign this
> petition! As a matter of fact, to me, this isn't really a blindness issue;
> it is an issue of child abuse! Isn't child abuse a criminal offense? I
> wonder, assuming this is true, how in the world this school got away with
> this sort of treatment legally? Some kind of loophole, I assume.
>
> Chris Nusbaum
>
> "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
> 2 Corinthians 5:7
>
> Sent from my BrailleNote
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sherri" <flmom2006 at gmail.com
> To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;
> sent: Mon, 21 May 2012 07:26:12 -0400
> 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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