"I resign my roles at Autism Speaks" John Robison

Post Reply New Topic

Go back and reread what you wrote. You did support torture. You said it was the last hope for these kids.



No, it's not. It's the fault of the people running JRC choosing to use torture to control children and teens.



ASAN does a lot more than this. It's often stereotyped as doing nothing more than this, but this is not the reality of ASAN activities.



That's BS because those alternatives include not torturing kids. Sure, there have been worse, but that doesn't mean that JRC is a good thing.

Rather, it shows, that JRC is part of a larger problem with regards to institutions, that these institutions effectively have free reign to torment (often violently so) those put into their care. JRC is a part of the problem, not an alternative to the problem.



And that shouldn't happen, but this again doesn't excuse or justify JRC.

You said JRC's torture was a good thing. You supported torture. In this post you continued to support the stance that JRC is a viable option for dealing with these kids. You continued to support torture. If you do not think that saying JRC is a viable option or a good thing for these children is supporting the use of torture, then I submit you are either lying to yourself or you do not fully understand what occurs at JRC.

Personally, though, whenever I see your name, I'm going to remember "That's the guy who said torturing disabled kids was a viable treatment option."

Maybe he's thought better of it since then. People can change their minds, you know. Maybe at first glance it seems like aversives might be valid as a last resort... but once you study it, you may change your mind once you realize that they can only make things worse, and are even more harmful to the people who can't talk or who have "behavior problems".

Support for aversives seems to be driven very much by reasoning along the lines of, "If it's risky, painful, or expensive, it must work better." Yes, we're willing to accept more drawbacks the worse the problem is, but that only makes sense if the solution with more drawbacks is also more effective. In the case of aversives, it is not. It is less effective than other therapies, causes more damage, and creates new problems that weren't there before. Communication- and interaction-based occupational and speech therapy work much better. If you have to stop a person from doing something dangerous, you don't have to hurt them to do it.

But people still use aversives--along with other dangerous and unnecessary treatments--because they seem to think that if you're desperate enough to hurt your child, then that means the therapy has got to be effective. Well, it isn't. All it does, is create anxious, robotically obedient people with broken wills and broken hearts.

Oh, I realize that people can change their minds, but he continued to state that JRC is a better alternative to other options, which doesn't seem indicative of changing his mind.

I think vermontsavant was trying to convey that these kids end up in places like this because everyone else gave up on them. What these horrible people do once these kids are there is another story. I want to believe we have a combo of vermontsavant having trouble arriculating his intentions and we autistics taking his words literally.

If I'm wrong than continue to flame him, but I think if we desire acceptance from the NT world we should at least make every attempt to validate his intention against our interpretation. Despite what many of us took from his posts, and responded accordingly, he seems to remain civil.

And just so you know, I am not taking sides. That video pissed me off! So much so that I asked the ASD department to remove any and all of their propaganda from Autism Speaks.

I just want to be sure someone is actually an adversary before I call in the firing squad.

VermontSavant-please take this opportunity to confirm or deny my suspicions as clearly and concisely as you can.

I have not once flamed him.

And, read his post again:



He is explicitly justifying the things these people are doing to kids. Describes the shocks as "summer camp" in comparison to prison. Says they're the last hope for these kids.

I can see where vermont is coming from, but only if the person receiving the electric shock has consented to it as an alternative to prison. I do not think that is usually, if ever, the case.

Electric shocks with informed consent are nasty, but a different beast to torture.

However, like I said, I think that's a moot point, because they don't happen with consent.

yes i like your interpritation.NO of coarse i dont want to see people electricuted.it was hard enough as a kid hearing the stories of what kids went through at gaebler and belchertown state school.

i have never said shocking people is a good way to help improve kids.the sick reality is where are these kids going to be sent instead.


i remember 20 years ago at the institute for living in hartford,CT a 15 year old girl was strapped to a bed for something sick like 8 months or something.

the problem lies in what underground goolags children will be sent to if JRC is shut down.at gaebler although nothing was proven there were many manysuspicious deaths.the JRC is private as far as i know so its easy for the state to check up on them.but when the state itself runs a program,then the state can easily cover there own asses per say.

i have never given a glowing endorsement of the JRC and believe me real JRC supporters would be far more threaened by my posts then yours.if the JRC gets shut down i hope the best for the kids but i cant say im not nervous about what can happen once there in state custody.

decades ago a woman disapeared at the metropolitan state hospital and the muderer was not caught untill 20,30 years later only because of a whistle blowing republican state senator and then the mass state police started an investigation.the state hospital never even investigated this disapearance nevermind even get authorities involved.

i am just trying to make you aware of the abyss that awaites forgotten children with mental health issues.that is all

Sounds like endorsement to me.

"Flame" was a poor choice of words.

Perhaps his experience as a child was as bad or worse so this is not as bad to him as it is to us-everything is relative.

My kids are a ton of work and I get frustrated-then I remember what it was like when I thought I would never talk to my daughter-relative.

If I take everything for his literal words than I want to beat his ass too, but his grammar is horrid and maybe his words are misrepresenting him.

I believe in giving people a chance because that is what I want and expect for myself and my children.

I agree with everybody here; I just want to give him one last chance to confirm or deny.

Simple question Vermont- should the JRC be shut down (maybe it is already)?

Yes or No?

The answer to this is all I need.

Lesser of 2 evils, but evil nonetheless.

All I can say is thank god I don't live in America.

The more I read about the status quo in regards to Autism in the US the more I'm horrified. Autism Speak's doom laden horror stories about autism and antipathy towards the people they supposedly represent is bad enough.

But having found out about the JRC for the first time today I'm even more disgusted with what passes for Autism care over there. I'm speechless that this torture of children is even legally allowed. If it happened here the entire staff would most likely be prosecuted and sent to jail!

I certainly admire John Robinson for finally taking a stand against Autism Speaks. It takes far more courage to stand up to people you personally know and work with, than it does to stand up to strangers who you only see as evil.

i dont think the JRC would be to happy to hear what i had to say about them.i dont think JRC admin wants to hear its program is inhumane but better then a state hospital.

It's not better than a state hospital. Colorful, clean, friendly-looking torture is still torture. At least in a state hospital you'll only be overmedicated and put in restraints.

Sadly you are mistaken. Do some research, and learn the type of "treatment" is also done in the UK and most of europe. So no they would not be arrested.

Since Autism Speaks misrepresents us, how about a shift in energy toward fixing that. How can we start a proper advocacy group?

Does Jon Elder or Jack post on here?

I'm afraid it is you who is mistaken - the JRC is the only centre in the world that uses GED machines to 'treat' autism.

You obviously must be thinking of electroconvulsive therapy where mental patients are strapped to tables and large electric shocks applied to their brains in an attempt to make them more docile. A questionable practice which unfortunately is still in use all over the world, including the UK.

The use of electric shocks as aversion therapy in the way that JRC does, is not however used in this country. And it was that I was referring to. No institution in the UK would ever be allowed to apply electric shocks to children as punishment for bad behaviour in the UK.

Edited to add:

There was an adult care facility over here in the UK that was shut down and staff prosecuted for abuse just this year. I can't remember the name of the facility, but they were subjecting patients to verbal abuse and using unreasonable force to subdue patients. If they can be shut down and prosecuted for that, what makes you think they would be allowed to electrocute patients that don't behave?