Hope for the #StopTheShock Movement
Autists are STILL being legally tortured in the US, but there’s hope.
I’ve written about the #StopTheShock movement before, here, here, and here — which seeks to stop the use of graduated electric shock devices (GEDs) on autistic people (notably different from electroconvulsive therapy) — a practice that has literally been described as torture by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture, and since there are far more effective modern solutions than modern solutions the Judge Rotenberg Center in the US is the only place in the world to still using this dark-ages-esqe “treatment.”
The battle to stop them has been going on for decades, with recent moves aimed to ban the GED altogether, but the well-funded Judge Rotenberg Center has continued to use every legal strategy and connection they can to continue torturing disabled humans. But there’s hope. An autist-led group, ASAN, summarizes a recent victory:
ASAN welcomes the removal of Section 722 from the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. In June, some members of Congress introduced a rider to the act that would stop the FDA from banning electric shock devices for behavior modification, such as the devices used at the Judge Rotenberg Center. Section 722 said the FDA cannot ban a device that is used by court order. All of the electric shock devices used at the Judge Rotenberg Center are used because of a court order.
If this rider had passed, it would have taken away the FDA’s power to move forward with the proposed rule that ASAN and many grassroots advocates commented to support. Because of your powerful activism, this rider failed to make it into the final bill, and the FDA still has the power to #StopTheShock.
ASAN, who’s worked tirelessly to create allies in members of the House Appropriations Committee, also emphasizes the fight still to come:
We are grateful that this rider did not make it into the current version of the bill, but the fight isn’t over yet. The full House of Representatives, and the Senate, still need to vote on this bill. Thanks to your efforts, we have built strong bipartisan opposition to Section 722. We will continue to work with Congress to make sure this rider stays out of the final bill. Meanwhile, the FDA still needs to do their part with the power our community fought for them to keep. ASAN calls upon the FDA to swiftly release the final version of their proposed rule “Banned Devices; Proposal to Ban Electrical Stimulation Devices for Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior.”
I’m demonetizing this post, so there’s no paywall if you’d like to help spread the news — and, PLEASE share — the FDA has had the power to stop this before but have failed to act. The more people who are aware of this horrifying issue, the more pressure the FDA will feel. Make ’em feel it.
