Monday, May 21, 2012

Protest Slated For June 2 to End Shock Therapy At The Judge Rotenberg Center

Senator Joyce, Cheryl McCollins, mother of former student, Andre McCollins and several others to speak. Location to be announced.

Occupy JRC will hold a peaceful protest against the Judge Rotenberg Center, scheduled for Saturday, June 2 from 12pm to 4pm. Location to be announced.

The Judge Rotenberg Center is the only place in the country to use aversives, including remotely controlled, painful electric skin shocks to change behavior in children with autism, developmental delays and/or psychiatric diagnoses.

The school has survived a move from Rhode Island to Massachusetts, multiple lawsuits, and the forced resignation of its founder and former Director, Matthew Israel. Most recently, the Judge Rotenberg Center hit the airwaves on a national level when the facility was required to release previously suppressed videotapes of former student, Andre McCollins being restrained face down for over seven hours and shocked 31 times after he refused to take off his jacket.

Occupy JRC will host the protest in Canton, time and place to be announced, and plans to include a march as a part of the day’s events.

Several speakers have been scheduled including Massachusetts Senator Brian A. Joyce, Cheryl McCollins (mother of former student, Andre McCollins), Dan Fisher (National Empowerment Center), Ari Ne’eman (Autistic Self-Advocacy Network), Laurie Ahern (Disability Rights International), Kat Whitehead (Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth), Stephen Mark Shore (Adelphi University) and more.

The protest comes right on the heels of the hand delivery of an anti-JRC petition to the State House in Boston as initiated by former JRC employee, Greg Miller, and promoted by Change.org. The petition can be found at www.change.org/shock and had over 220,000 signatures at the time of its delivery.

Occupy JRC was formed in February of 2012 as a coalition of people hailing from several different states who are autistic and/or who have lived experience with psychiatric diagnoses and their allies who are dedicated to human rights and stopping the torture of children at the Judge Rotenberg Center. For more information on Occupy JRC or the Judge Rotenberg Center, visit www.occupyjrc.org.