Aspies For Freedom

Are there even any institutions/organizations that do anything with autistic children other than apply behavior methods to "treating" the "disease"?  I'm sure with little effort, anyone can come up with a dozen institutions that do exactly that.  I've even recently discovered that an old classmate of mine has opened and now runs such a place.

I also am getting tired of some of the language used to describe people "on the spectrum".

Saying someone "has" autism or AS implies that it's something that they can also not have ("You have: no tea" for anyone who gets that obscure reference).  It's not something you have, it's something you ARE, so saying "I have autism" is annoying incorrect in my view.  Saying "I am autistic" is also not a phrase I like to use as the word "autistic" is somewhat unwieldy to use in normal conversion.  Saying "I am an aspie" is also a phrase I dislike as the term "aspie" has a diminutive connotation to me.

ARGH.

The point is that the forum is not there for those that want to ask difficult questions, much like the organisation as a whole (as I can gather). If you listened to the Radio 4 link on the subject, I wonder if you noticed the *tone* and the manner in which the 'satisfied' parents spoke? They really sounded brainwashed, it was scary.

Gareth said:

The failure of people to draw the line between abuse and 'treatment', is of course nothing new and certainly not confined to groups concerned with Autism (think mental health or care of the elderly etc). I am intrigued by your suggestion that we 'take things off line'. I'm all for doing something about this, but what do you suggest (that people will take notice of) that comes under the heading of 'peaceful protest'?

This is a quote from the 'Judge Rotenberg' link (behavioral counseling at JRT). It is really scary, to think that these poor people are treated like that, and they aren't even allowed to complain!

That sounds like my mother. She told me 23 years ago (I was 28 at the time), when she was here in Canada for the birth of my 2nd daughter, that I was 'too sensitive' as a kid. So, she purposely treated me mean and unfairly, to cure me of being oversensitive. Of course, what did she achieve? I stopped telling her anything she could use against me, and I learned to hide my feelings. Plus, I fell into major depression (starting at the age of eight).

When I was at the height of the depression (which got more severe over time, but I started thinking about killing myself when eight years old) when I was 46, everybody who knew me thought I was happy and well-adjusted! Inside I was dying, while I was smiling on the outside.

So, these 'happy students' at JRC are probably dying on the inside as well. And they are wearing the shock devices while testifying in court that they think they are a great idea! Right, people will say almost anything when they have a gun pointing at them.  It doesn't prove anything, other than that these poor people have been brainwashed and punished into submission.

Uschi

Gareth, here is the contact info as published on the site:

Matthew L. Israel, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Judge Rotenberg Educational Center
240 Turnpike Street
Canton, MA 02021
Tel: 781-828-2202
Fax: 781-828-2804
Email: m.israel@judgerc.org

Uschi

You have the address, right?
Starting on November 1, everybody has to send at least one angry letter of protest to this mofo.

I'll note the date down in my diary!

I've never been to the chat before (kinda nervous.. and forgetful!) :oops: But nevertheless I feel this is important so I will try and make an effort to be there.

This is due to an unfortunate current cultural bias against aversive treatment procedures

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Dear god~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sending letters of protest to the institution is pointless.  We're not even human beings to them.

I suggest contacting the child abuse prevention agency in their jurisdiction instead, as well as the state agency that's responsible for licensing this hellhole.  And how about the local newspaper in that city, too?  Maybe we can get an investigation going.  Do we have any AFF members who live close enough to drive over there and picket the front entrance, preferably with news cameras rolling?

Another thought -- there's an advocacy group, CIBRA, that focuses specifically on the issue of abuse of autistic children in institutions.  They're new and don't appear to be very organized yet, but it might be worthwhile to contact them and try to coordinate some sort of protest activities.

http://users.1st.net/cibra/index.htm

How difficult is it to get someone inside one of these places with a camera?  Posing as a relative of a patient, perhaps?  It would also be possible to see if an actual relative is willing to co-operate, if the security is tight enough that a phony can't get in.  Attracting attention to this problem will wokr best if we cna get public opinion on our side, and if a picture is worth a thousand words then think what a nice video clip will buy.  I think our biggest problem with this whole situation is a lack of publicity, something we really ought to try to deal with. where is this rotenburg center anyhow?

The more I read about this place, the more it sounds like a concentration camp. I suspect if anybody tried something like this in Australia, there would be so many protests to the government ministers that it would be political suicide for them not to close the centre down.

I read about him when he was little but he'd be in his 30's now. I wonder if he ever married and/or had children? His parents back when the article about Son rise was written said he was bright but needed all this "intensive" treatment to "unlock him from his world of silence".

At least they are willing to respond to some degree of pressure. However, my pessimism inclines me to think that this is more akin to continuing to do child abuse but instead of calling it child abuse now calls it "tough love".

Which might even prove more challenging.

It is easier to show the harms of a place which uses language more directly reflecting of its goals; when such a place skirts around the goals and uses euphemisms to make their place sound as innocent as a friendly daycare center, then it is easier for them to discredit claims of abuse and torture. Sadly, but truly.

Those manaquins are creepy.

You know, it has occurred to me that Raun Kaufman has been well indoctrinated himself to think that he would be a near vegetable in an institution had he not been intensively treated as a child.

The main thing that stuck out when I read the magazine article about him years ago was he was speech-delayed. He seemed to have some autistic traits but for whatever reason, the speech delay was his main issue.

It would not surprise me if he has Asperger's at a very high-functioning level but somewhere along the line he has "bought" all the rubbish about being consigned to an institution if massive intervention wasn't made in his youth. I don't know how long he was treated - from the Magazine article, I got the impression it was a couple of years??