Autism Vox

Shocking behavior and “the wound to human dignity”

by Kristina Chew, PhD on July 16th, 2006

In Unlearn Shocking Behavior (The Times-Union (Albany, July 16, 2006), Clarence J. Sundram, president of Mental Disability Rights International, writes about the use of “aversive therapy”—electroshock and also “‘hitting, slapping, pinching, kicking, hurling, strangling, shoving, deep muscle squeezes’” and other similar actions”— in the name of “treatment” of individuals with mental retardation, mental disabilities, and autism:

The seductive argument in favor of the infliction of shock and pain to change behavior is that it works, at least for as long as the pain or the threat of pain is present. So might torture, but it is hardly a reason for a civilized society to tolerate it. Like torture, the change in behavior is temporary, while the wound to the human dignity is lasting.

The Judge Rothenburg Center (JRC) (which I posted about here) is a school that has used such aversive treatments. Sundram does not mention any specific schools that use such practises; he notes that the New York State Legislature “is considering whether to ban the use of such aversives outright” and calls on the state of New York to no longer send students to out-state-placements like the JRC.

“History,” Sundram notes, “is full of abuses of human rights in the name of benevolence. There seems to be an inexorable process whereby the objects of our pity become the subjects of our concern and, ultimately, the victims of our coercion.”

The full text of Unlearn Shocking Behavior can be read here.

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POSTED IN: Disability Rights, Legislation, Safety, Treatment