The Truth About The Judge Rotenberg Centre
Even if you believe their every claim, the place is still terrifying
2024 update
I originally wrote this article in the Spring of 2023, but wanted to share here because on July 10, the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee (United States) will vote on a bill. If passed, this bill would prevent a ban on the electric shock devices which are still used as “behavior modification” (manipulation and torture) for Autistic and disabled people.
The only place that still uses such inhumane, archaic, torturous devices is the Judge Rotenberg Centre (JRC) in Canton, Massachusetts. Today and every day, vulnerable people are being shocked with electric devices to force them to comply with the JRC’s program. If you live in Massachusetts, please send a letter to your representative asking them to vote against this bill.
The rest of us can continue to speak out against this barbaric treatment and demand better.
The Judge Rotenberg Centre
The Judge Rotenberg Centre (JRC) is a day and residential school located in Canton, Massachusetts licensed to “serve” (torture) children as young as five years old, all the way through to adulthood.
This so-called “educational” centre (their self-proclaimed title) uses electric shock devices on disabled and Autistic people in order to force compliance.
The JRC claims they only use these torture devices to stop “harmful” and dangerous behaviours (not that this would excuse it anyway), but there is extensive evidence from former staff and residents proving this is an outright lie.
There is even video evidence of a young man being shocked for refusing to remove his coat. I wonder how the JRC determined that being a little chilly is “dangerous” behaviour. (There are other videos which are even worse, but I cannot bring myself to watch them).
Some of the reasons people have been shocked with these devices are:
Getting out of their seat without permission
Refusing to eat food offered to them
Swearing and/or yelling
Covering eyes or ears
Repetitive hand motions in front of one’s eyes or face
Running away, or attempting to run away
Having bathroom accidents (urinating or defecating outside of a toilet)
Some of these are outside of people’s control, some of these are behaviours which signal a person is in distress, some are normal Autistic “behaviours”, and some are simply human beings making choices about their own bodies.
If someone were shocking — or threatening to shock — me, I’d probably yell, swear, or run away. I sure as hell wouldn’t have much of an appetite to sit down and eat a meal, and I’d most certainly be engaging in self-soothing (i.e. rocking, stimming) and avoidance behaviours (i.e. covering eyes or ears).
Their own messaging tells on them
Even if you take them at their word (I absolutely do not, but let’s pretend), this place is terrifying. If you take a look at the JRC’s website, you can see their approaches are 100% behaviourism-based. The things they brag about actually disgust me.
I can highlight extensive issues with their programming without even getting to the fact that they use shock to force compliance from vulnerable human beings.
They have a “big reward” store where residents can purchase rewards with money they earn for doing schoolwork or progressing on “behavioural goals”. Guess who develops those goals? (Spoiler alert: It’s not the residents).
They must comply with the programming demands in order to earn access to: the Internet café, hair salon, movie theatre, snack bar, amusement area, arcade, field trips and “outings” — y’know, things people get every day just for being people.
It gets worse.
They have to earn the “privilege” (right) to play on the playground, use the basketball court, watch T.V., play video games, use the fitness room, and have parties — all based on criteria determined by staff.
Reading the JRC’s so-called “positive programming” page truly makes me feel sick to my stomach. Their procedure is outlined as follows:
Identify behaviours to be changed;
Record and chart their frequency;
Make available “powerful” rewards (i.e. things that should be the right of every human being to have or use);
Set up academic and behavioural financial rewards;
Set up behavioural contracts (which residents have no choice but to agree to); and
Set up a loss of privilege procedure
This reminds me of sending dogs away to board-and-train facilities, telling the trainer to “get rid of” an unwanted behaviour, paying them a bunch of money, then picking the dog up a few weeks later.
I was a positive dog trainer for more than a decade, and I didn’t even recommend this approach with dogs (in fact, I spoke out against it), let alone vulnerable human beings.
“Problematic” behaviours
The JRC found it convenient to categorize problematic behaviours as belonging to one of seven broad categories, the last four of which are:
Noncompliance (such as refusing to follow a learned direction)
Major disruptive behaviours (such as screaming or stealing)
Educationally and Socially-Interfering behaviours
Inappropriate Verbal Behaviours
Their “rewards for positive behaviour” listed on their sample chart are: verbal praise, 1 jellybean, or 1 rice snack. Ew. Seriously. They’re not even trying to hide the fact that this is dog training being performed on humans.
Behaviourism apologists, do not come at me with your “we all learn the same way”, or “we all learn through rewards and consequences every day”. As I mentioned, I was a certified dog trainer. I know my quadrants, I know how this works.
There’s a significant difference between natural consequences like if I don’t wear my coat I might be cold, and “do this thing you don’t want to do, otherwise you won’t get the thing you want”.
There’s a massive power imbalance between residents and staff in places like the JRC. Staff literally hold the keys to locked doors and have the power to provide or withhold essentials like food from the residents.
There is no way in hell we can compare that with an adult choosing to go to work to earn a paycheque, or an adult getting a speeding ticket because they chose to speed.
It would be more like my husband locking up the food in our house and refusing to let me eat unless I performed a particular behaviour he deemed necessary. Or us locking up all of our son’s toys and refusing him access unless he does something he doesn’t want to do, because we said so.
The residents of JRC are not there of their own free will, and they do not have autonomy or choice.
Their families had them locked up there because they thought they had no other choice, and now staff have control over every facet of their lives. Staff can control when they sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, work, play, attend school — or do pretty much anything.
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