Spring Break
Club supports state legislation
by Ruth Orbach
Staff writer
News | 4/1/08
Posted online at 1:57 AM EST on 4/1/08
/ Last updated at 6:15 PM EST on 4/1/08
Brandeis Students Against the Judge Rotenberg Center has been working since last semester to garner media attention to push through bills in the Massachusetts state legislature that will inhibit and monitor the JRC, a residential and day program center in Canton, Mass. that uses alternative therapy to punish and control students.
Initiatives by the Center's supporters and a general lack of awareness made the passage of the bills difficult, said Liza Behrendt '11. The bills have been referred for study in legislation and must be researched and revised.
The bills were H109, which was a total ban on aversive treatment, and H1122, which would monitor the use of aversive treatment at the JRC. Behrendt said that H109 was never likely to pass. H1122 would ban electric shock as punishment for minor incidents of bad behavior, club member Lev Hirschhorn '11 said.
H1122 would ensure that the Center "could only shock in extreme situations, as an absolute last resort," club founder Nathan Robinson '11 said.
The acts were supported by BSAJRC and the Massachusetts Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities, but a lack of incentive among legislators caused the bills to be shelved until January.
Doubts were raised about the effectiveness of the bills had they been passed. "The worry is that it would just establish another level of bureaucracy," said Behrendt. The bills, if passed, would force the JRC to stop the use of aversive treatment. More information was needed in order to ensure their passage. If there is no decision on the bills by January, they will be permanently dropped. The Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities and BSAJRC are "doing more research and more revising of the bills," said Behrendt.
The alternative therapy methods the Center uses to punish students have long been a topic of controversy but were brought under the media spotlight after a prank phone call ordered the staff of the JRC to shock two of the students, one of whom received over 70 shocks, according to Hirschhorn. The story was featured in the Boston Globe and the New York Times.
Initiatives by the Center's supporters and a general lack of awareness made the passage of the bills difficult, said Liza Behrendt '11. The bills have been referred for study in legislation and must be researched and revised.
The bills were H109, which was a total ban on aversive treatment, and H1122, which would monitor the use of aversive treatment at the JRC. Behrendt said that H109 was never likely to pass. H1122 would ban electric shock as punishment for minor incidents of bad behavior, club member Lev Hirschhorn '11 said.
H1122 would ensure that the Center "could only shock in extreme situations, as an absolute last resort," club founder Nathan Robinson '11 said.
The acts were supported by BSAJRC and the Massachusetts Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities, but a lack of incentive among legislators caused the bills to be shelved until January.
Doubts were raised about the effectiveness of the bills had they been passed. "The worry is that it would just establish another level of bureaucracy," said Behrendt. The bills, if passed, would force the JRC to stop the use of aversive treatment. More information was needed in order to ensure their passage. If there is no decision on the bills by January, they will be permanently dropped. The Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities and BSAJRC are "doing more research and more revising of the bills," said Behrendt.
The alternative therapy methods the Center uses to punish students have long been a topic of controversy but were brought under the media spotlight after a prank phone call ordered the staff of the JRC to shock two of the students, one of whom received over 70 shocks, according to Hirschhorn. The story was featured in the Boston Globe and the New York Times.
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someone who cares
posted 4/01/08 @ 9:50 AM EST
The place is the bowels of hell. People have post traumatic stress disorder from it. They are terrorizing mentally challenged people, and nobody cares. (Continued…)
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