A fw From REAACH: Report on JRC/aversive therapy

[Guest guest]

Friends And Members of REAACH,

the attached is powerful. Please find strength in its

devastating content to fight for the ban on aversives, specifically at the

Judge Rotenberg center in MA. . Rep.

Barbara L’Italien, a well known and

greatly admired activist in the autism community, is leading

the charge on this in the House. Sen. Joyce is doing the same in the in

the Senate. I am cc’ing them

hear so you might contact them with your support. We are so

grateful to them for their humane efforts to ban aversives. Suzanne Messina

REAACH

The

New York State Education Department has conducted unannounced site visits to

the Judge Rotenberg

Educational Center,

located in Canton, Massachusetts. A report from these

visits is attached that " shows reason for serious concern regarding the

school's use of aversive behavioral interventions. The Department has

taken a series of actions to correct these practices. "

The

information in these reports is quite graphic and disturbing.

Massachusetts continues to fund

the use of electric shock and other painful aversives on people with mental

retardation and autism pursuant to a settlement agreement between JRC and Massachusetts.

If

you feel these types of procedures are unfair and inhumane, please send a

message to your legislators using the Arc Action Center: http://capwiz.com/thearc/issues/alert/?alertid=8846516 & type=ST & show_alert=1

Organizations

in support of pending legislation that would bar aversives:

American

Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Center for Public Representation,

Federation for Children with Special Needs, Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation,

Coalition for the Legal Rights of People with Disabilities, Mass. Developmental

Disabilities Council, Autism National Committee, Central Mass. Families

Organizing for Change, Autism Alliance of MetroWest, Disability Policy

Consortium, Disability Law Center, Community Resources for People with Autism,

Mass. Families Organizing for Change, Mass. Office on Disability, The Arc of

Massachusetts, TASH New England, TASH, Mass. Advocates Standing Strong,

Advocates for Autism of Massachusetts, and Mass. Mental Health Legal Advisors

Committee.

_________________________

, Deputy Director

The

Arc of Massachusetts

217 South Street

Waltham, MA

02453

PH 781-891-6270 ext. 104

FX

781-891-6271

www.arcmass.org