Congress has Supported the FDA’s Right to #StopTheShock

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The Autistic Self Advocacy Network welcomes the passing of the omnibus bill with a provision that gives the FDA the right to ban contingent electric shocks used for behavior modification. This is a direct result of your advocacy, whether that be meetings, calls, or emails, demanding that Congress take action to end torture at the Judge Rotenberg Center. For decades, disabled advocates have fought to end the use of electric shocks at the JRC. ASAN is relieved to see that, after years of relentless advocacy by the disability community, Congress has listened to survivors, advocates, and allies and formally acknowledged the FDA’s power to pass a ban on the device. This is a victory, but we cannot close this chapter in history yet. The FDA must now ban the electric skin shock device again in order to #StopTheShock.

ASAN calls upon the FDA to pass the rule banning the electric skin shot device without delay. Each day that passes is another day that our community members are tortured and traumatized at the Judge Rotenberg Center. In the new year, ASAN and our coalition partners will advocate on multiple fronts to ensure that the FDA releases the rule as quickly as possible. The JRC will certainly challenge any new rule in court as they have with previous attempts to ban torture in the name of treatment, but we are one critical step closer.

This fight is not over until the JRC is shut down, all institutions are closed, and all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are receiving the services we need to thrive in our own homes and communities. This is not over until restraint and seclusion are banned in every state, until violence against people with disabilities is recognized as violence, not written off as “for our own good.

Great news. The electric shock abuse may finally be ending.