Thread by @ekverstania

Now that the House has voted to ban the shock torture of disabled people at the Judge Rotenberg Center, we need to take a look at something specific relating to that vote.

https://twitter.com/AutismInspired/status/1536441043389931520

28 Republicans voted AGAINST the ban on torturing disabled people in ABA at the JRC.

They include some most notably implicated in crimes to overthrow the US government: Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Madison Cawthorn, Marjorie Taylor Greene.

ASK WHY.

https://twitter.com/Dave_Thibault/status/1536712959023583233

Ask why these specific politicians are so invested in maintaining the option to torture people by means of electric shocks, to control their behaviour.

Is it coincidence that one of these Republican nay-voters, John Molenaar, represents a district in MIGHIGAN, given that Michigan is the home base of so many people and organisations connected to crimes against humanity in ABA?

The ABA industry is looking at expanding into hundreds of new areas of application.

Is this relevant in any way, or are we getting into apophenia now?

Is this financial, ideological, or both?

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1528499928946950145?t=P4KNra4UQkKjkDzqQyxyzw&s=19

There are other members of the far-right Freedom Caucus who voted nay to the ban on this form of torture.

Biggs.

Cloud.

Who else?

ASK WHY.

Is this just one grand coincidence?

Maybe this would be a good idea to remind ourselves of the reason why Matthew Israel created the institution that became the Judge Rotenberg Center.

Matthew Israel believes that behaviourism holds the key to society's salvation.

The Association of Social Design was his baby.

He wanted to use ABA build a utopia.

The problem with the earlier facilities which he built was that people could leave. He didn't have enough control.

He then founded the Behaviour Research Institute for disabled people, because he knew that it's easier to gain control over them legally, and he would not have to pay attention to their objections to this control.

Today, it's called the Judge Rotenberg Center.

Everything inside the Judge Rotenberg Center is based on punishment and reward.

Every action is transactional and functions towards the fulfilment of a contract.

To enforce control, Matthew Israel invented electric shock devices.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1412900060929667072?t=lwkdFerUhcBt1yeISf9U5g&s=19

Eventually, Matthew Israel was indicted on criminal charges relating to the abuse of children. To avoid prosecution, he entered into a plea deal which required him to resign from the Judge Rotenberg Center.

But that doesn't mean that his ideas and beliefs went away.

Some people say that Matthew Israel found enough personal fulfilment in the Judge Rotenberg Center to give up his idea of creating a whole utopian society through ABA everywhere else.

But evidence suggests that this aspects of goal live on through people who have strong connections to ABAI, the organisation that has been most supportive of the Judge Rotenberg Center.

It's not just about following the money. It's also about following the beliefs.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1531059947496214529?t=1-ervR6-m1GM22bhUiiGbw&s=19

I've got to go. My mother wants me to play cards now. But let me just pop this in here quickly. These are some of the people who are helping to take ABA worldwide into all aspects of society, through ABAI's global missionary organisation, SABA. saba.abainternational.org/capital-campai…

Now where have I seen these names before, I wonder?

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1531065334702153728?t=dOzAYyEXgIe84vSXLRppIw&s=19

What's the connection to right-wing American politicians like Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Madison Cawthorn, Biggs, Molenaar, Gaetz and the rest? Is it just money? Or is it ideological?

Banning the torture devices won't be enough to stop the people who earn money from the JRC from abusing people in other ways.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1414643212975804420

As long as therapists believe that increasingly distressed behaviour demands an increasingly distressing response, the torture at the Judge Rotenberg Center will remain the logical 'last resort' in the minds of many people who support ABA.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1512802636503957505?t=fK6MNJYRBGCD-Hej0hCFMw&s=19

Matthew Israel had a strong belief in threats and following through on threats, even towards himself. He threatened himself with having to donate money to people he hated if he missed personal targets such as in weight loss, and he even threatened to shock himself.

Similarly, members of the ABAI Task Force are are people who believe pain and punishment to be valuable.

These values and beliefs are not likely to disappear if the GEDs/CESS devices are declared unlawful.

https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1531080022471090177?t=fK6MNJYRBGCD-Hej0hCFMw&s=19

And unless laws are passed not just to #StopTheShock but also to #BanABA, American taxpayers are likely to continue paying for other forms of cruel and inhuman treatment of disabled people.