Judge Rotenberg Centre

What better way to start a blog about disability issues than to write about state-sanctioned abuse of people with disabilities?

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/school_of_shock.html

I don’t understand why discipline that would warrant the intervention of social services if carried out in a home is okay in a school.  I can empathize with how difficult it must be for families to care for children with severe behaviours, but I find it incredibly disturbing that parents have somehow gotten the idea that administering electric shocks as part of a behaviour intervention program is acceptable.

For me, it highlights a need for thorough, professional, continuing education for parents of children with disabilities.  Parents need to know what behaviour interventions are appropriate and currently in use for people with their child’s diagnosis, what rights they have as parents when an intervention is used with their child in a given facility (including public schools, hospitals, group homes, etc), and, most importantly, what rights their child has.  Parents also need training to become effective advocates so that they can step in quickly and forcefully when they see something inappropriate happening; these children can’t defend themselves from something like this.

Parents also need training in how to educate their children about their rights.  Rights training needs to start at an early age.

Something is missing if parents are feeling desperate enough to go to institutions like this for help; there needs to more funding to allow parents access to safe, effective supports that keep them from that point of desperation.  And the education piece is vital.

I’ve known for a while that society is failing children with disabilities and their families, and the fact that the Judge Rotenberg Centre is still operating is horrific proof of that.   

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Judge Rotenberg Centre – The Response »