A primary source, someone who literally went to JRC. This is what the Circuit Court is allowing.
JRC was an appointed guardian over this person, which is why their parent couldn't just take them out of JRC. This is utterly terrifying. 1/9
TRIGGER WARNING - restraint, electric shock, abuse, seclusion, lack of privacy, manipulation
What follows is a quote from the video:
2/9
"It lasts 2 seconds but it feels like 10-15 seconds. The feeling is like this pulsing, pulling, yanking, burning sensation that they get in your arm, leg, whatever spot they shock you in. It doesn't go through your whole body,"
3/9
"it will just stay on that one spot where they shock you, but it will tear into it and your whole muscles will clench up and raise up, and you have no control over your muscle fort hat period of time. It's a terrible pain. I have no idea how to describe it."
4/9
"They describe it as a bee sting, but some people will say it's like a hundred bee stings, it's not just like a little bee sting, it's like a bunch of bee stings. Unless you've been tasered or something, or electrocuted by something, I don't know how to describe the feeling"
5/9
"the pain is really bad. They decided to shock me for running away, then they put me into restraints, which you have to wear around your waist and ankles, kind of like shackles in prison. They told me I was going to have to stay like that until further notice"
6/9
"which ended up being about 2 months. In restraints, in the back room of the crisis room, and that place was freezing. I couldn't leave until 8 o' clock...I wasn't allowed to go outside or do anything. The only time I could leave was to take a shower."
7/9
"There was a camera in there, you had to try to hide from the camera. I had maybe talked to my mom once a week, and I wasn't allowed to tell her anything because they would end the call if I said anything negative or try to tell her about what they were doing to me"
8/9
"I would rather be living on the street than living there. That is no place for anybody." 9/9 #StopTheShock
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The part I added I will tweet here so you can copy and paste into your message:
"I would also like you to push to ban the GED device that the FDA previously banned the use of, but has just been overturned by the D.C. Circuit Court." 1/3
"The Judge Rotenburg Center tortures autistic people and people with intellectual disabilities with this shock device.
The GED is abusive. Shocking autistic people and people with intellectual disabilities for not taking their coat off fast enough is abusive."
2/3
"To learn more, please follow the #StopTheShock hashtag on twitter.
Please push the FDA to ban the GED device outright, and to prevent the restraint and abuse of all autistic people and people with intellectual disabilities in the US."
3/3
"'With the treatment, these residents can continue to participate in enriching experiences, enjoy visits with their families and, most importantly, live in safety and freedom from self-injurious and aggressive behaviors,' it said."
2/6
In what world is getting shocked 100 times a day completely out of your control, due to behaviors as innocuous as getting out of your chair, or wanting a drink, or any other regular life thing, living "in safety and freedom"?
3/6
If anyone wants to "approve" this they should have to undergo the electric shocks themselves before they get to officially decide.
This is f*cking barbaric.
YES THEY SHOCK AUTISTIC PEOPLE IN 2021. STILL.
"The ruling was a victory for the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center and a group of parents and guardians of its students, which had challenged the regulation."
Notice they didn't say it was a victory for the STUDENTS.
It was Not a victory for the disabled students themselves.
Is it really so hard to believe autistic people?
Are neurotypicals taught to disbelieve other people's experiences? To gaslight? To ignore what is being communicated?
I honestly don't know of autistic people who would immediately disbelieve someone's internal experience. 2/5
I'm not joking when I say, is this a neurotypical empathy deficit?
Do they assume no one's experiences as disabled people are true? Or they can't fathom it?
Why is it so hard for them to Just. Believe. Us.
3/5
I think it's worse that people perceive(d) me to be a girl/woman, and because of that, the change in pitch I had to show to mask would be ridiculous.
People don't seem to judge cis men as much regarding tone. It felt like an absurd unnecessary constraint on communication. 2/5
For me masking or really more "mimicking" NT tone that other people wanted from me was akin to a person on the street having to put on clown makeup & a red nose everyday.
It has just never made sense. And it's so easy to tell (with people I know well) when my tone is "wrong" 3/5