Aspies For Freedom

There's been a series of articles in Newsday, a major newspaper in
New York, about the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts.  It
turns out that 24 school districts on Long Island are sending
children there for electric shock treatment.

The links are below, along with the first article in the series.  

-  Debra


Parents defend use of shock treatment
They gather to counter Freeport mother's claim that Mass. facility
inflicts corporal punishment
http://www. newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-
lishok154662673mar15,0,5085444.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

Boy at center of controversy
http://www. newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-
liantw194670359mar21,0,2197265.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

New battle over shock
Regents may keep NY students from school using controversial treatment
http://www. newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-
lishok194670358mar21,0,7313668.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

Sending kids away
Inadequate facilities linked to finding that New York moves more
disabled students out of state than any other
http://www. newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-
lishok224671233mar22,0,7514865.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

Court: No ban on disputed school
http://www. newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-
lishok244673564mar24,0,5871877.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

Shock therapy still the only option for some
http://www. newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-
lishok0326,0,5843240.story?page=2&coll=ny-top-headlines


PARENTS DEFEND USE OF SHOCK TREATMENT
They gather to counter Freeport mother's claim that Mass. facility
inflicts corporal punishment

BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
STAFF WRITER

March 15, 2006
Two dozen Long Island school districts work successfully with the
Massachusetts center that uses bursts of electric shock to control
troubled students, officials said yesterday as a Freeport woman
prepared a lawsuit over what she called "cruel" treatment of her son.

About 20 parents from Long Island and New York City showed up at
Evelyn Nicholson's news conference yesterday morning at her
attorney's office in Melville to counter her claim that the Judge
Rotenberg Center in Canton, Mass., inflicts corporal punishment.

Nicholson intends to sue the Freeport school district for sending her
son, Antwone, 17, there, saying doing so was a violation of their own
policy against corporal punishment. The district, along with others
that have sent students there, declined to comment, citing privacy
issues.

Arthur and Michelle Perazzo, of Howard Beach, said their autistic
son, Michael, 21, has prospered for more than three years at the
center after not responding to any other type of treatment or
medication.

"We're afraid they may withdraw this kind of treatment and we'll have
no recourse," Arthur Perazzo said.

Nicholson, who acknowledged that she signed consent forms for the
treatment three months before Antwone arrived at the school, said she
believed it wouldn't be more than a pinch, not at all like the
searing pain she said sends her son to his knees.

"I just want to do the best for Antwone so he could have a normal
life," Nicholson said, adding that the treatments did nothing to help
his attention deficit hyperactivity and obsessive compulsive
disorders.

Students undergoing therapy wear a device, which consists of
electrodes on their torsos and legs hooked up to equipment in a pack
they wear - called the Graduated Electronic Decelerator. It was
developed by Matthew Israel, the school's founder, in the early
1990s. Controlled by a remote transmitter, the electrodes emit shocks
lasting from .2 seconds to 2 seconds.

Twenty-four school districts across Long Island have sent students to
the Judge Rotenberg Center, officials there said. Suffolk County
Department of Social Services now has one person there, a 19-year-old
woman with severe psychiatric and behavioral issues, department
spokesman Dennis Nowak said.

It costs the county $351.26 per day to keep her there, and an
additional $234.18 per day for tuition when school is in session, he
said.

In Nassau, the decision to send a student there is made by individual
school districts and not the social services department, county
spokesman Joe Calderone said. The county is responsible for a portion
of the costs, which totaled $713,000 in 2005 for six students, he
said.

Much appreciated.

I wonder if Group Home Veteran can comment with their first-hand experiences - whether the articles are true or not.

I cannot honestly comment on the specifics of the Nicholson case, as, I was there about 13 years before him.

I was, however, recently referred to his lawyer by someone familiar with my stay there.. I spoke with his lawyer (A guy..forgot his name already) for about a half hour 6 months ago. I hinted at some sort of class action suit, but he seemed to be uninterested. The feeling that I got from his inquiries, was that since I was able successsfully defend myself in court from JRC's attempt to place me on an aversive program, that my suffering was less definitive/dramatic/courtworthy (maybe he is right) than someone who had been shocked or spanked with cookie spatula. Still, I thought my recounting of having to sleep rubber shackles connected by chains for over a week after I tried to runaway was a pretty interesting tale that may have alone (aside form the years of psychological torture) merited my day in court, but while he showed (feigned?) interest in that little tidbit, he didn't exactly invite me to a deposition, either.

I was soon thereafter solicited by a writer who said she had received my name and number from him (Is this even ethical? I suspect not.) from the NY Times who wanted to interview me. I declined.

My impression of the lawyer from our conversation, some basic research, and the fact that I was solicited by a reporter at his behest a couple of weeks later, is that he is not a very skilled litigator, but rather, more of a third-rate ambulance chaser/publicity hound/opportunist. I suspect that he is either a lone wolf or from a firm that is not very prominent/successful. I mean, the guy operates out of Melville. That's not exactly where the White Shoe firms are. He's just a small-time LI attorney trying to make a name for himself. I picture him in my mind's eye as one of those bottom-feeders who deals solely with personal injury and has a waiting room full of lowly, impoverished, peasant degenerates looking to net themselves a few grand until they hit the lottery.

Some other things I can tell you:

Most of the "students" at JRC are from the wealthier school districts of NY and Massachussetts. They pay an EXHORBITANT, disgusting amount of money per year for each student to be housed there. Back in 1989, when I first arrived there, my Long Island school district (one of the first on Long Island to get bamboozled, and, thusly, setting the wheels in motion for others to follow suit) was paying 150K a year for me to be there. Clearly, torture is a profitable business. Dr. Israel (the school's director and lead behavioral psychologist) is a marketing genius. He was able to parlay piss-poor parenting into a multi-million dollar entrerprise.  He does what other parents are unwilling to do, or, are simply unsuccessful at doing: Babysit and punish your kids. If you have a disdain for discipline or corporal punishment, if you're too lazy or lacksadaisical with regard to your children...........if your inconsistency in metering your affection/attention has caused your child to become impossible for his teachers to deal with; Dr. Israel and his staff of "Behavioral Therapists" will retrain them and protect their peers and teachers from their dangerous behavior! For just 200K a year! What a samaritan! What a sweetie!

Really, it's not all that different from the prison-industrial complex, except instead of criminals, he has made a profitable, cottage industry of containing ***/autistic/disturbed people.

And no doubt making their disabilities and disturbances even worse, further "justifying" their prolonged incarceration in this place.