Barbarians vs. Self Abusers

Saturday at the Worcester Centrum!!!!!!!! Well it sounds like it might be some kind of whacked out wrestling event or a battle of the metal bands but it's really shorthand for the participants in 'therapeutic' processes that may soon be illegal. And events like these are not public and not even slightly entertaining. The actual venues are treatment facilities run by private contractors working for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Hmm? Compassionate Conservatives - Compassionate Contractors. Well there's something to ponder.

Anyway, here's the rundown in an e-mail from John Thomas, (how positively Victorian), Deputy Director of the Arc of Massachusetts.


"A bill has been filed before the Massachusetts Legislature for the 2005-2006 Session, that would ban painful aversive therapies, including electric shock, that are still being used by a small number of agencies contracted with the state to provide services to people with disabilities. In recent years, effective alternatives have been developed and used to address the type of self-abusive behavior that aversive therapy is primarily used as a treatment for.

Aversive therapy advocates tout its use as a “last resort” for people for whom there are no alternatives methods of treatment. This view has been universally condemned by mainstream disability advocacy, civil liberty and legal rights groups who believe the treatment to be a barbaric form of behavior control. In fact, the ethics of aversives would likely generate public outcry if administered to animals, yet aversives remain legal when used upon human beings in Massachusetts.

The following groups have condemned the use of aversive therapy and support legislation to outlaw it:

American Civil Liberties Union of Mass.
Center for Public Representation
Federation for Children with Special Needs
Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation
Coalition for the Legal Rights of People With Disabilities
Mass. Developmental Disabilities Council
National Autism Committee
Central Mass. Families Organizing for Change
Autism Alliance of MetroWest
Disability Policy Consortium
Disability Law Center
Community Resources For People with Autism
Mass. Families Organizing for Change
Mass. Office on Disability
The Arc of Massachusetts
TASH New England
TASH
Mass. Advocates Standing Strong
Advocates for Autism of Massachusetts
Mass. Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee

To see a letter of support signed by these organizations that you may print and give to your legislator, Click Here (requires Adobe Reader - warning, this is a large file) or:
http://arcmass.org/committeeletter.pdf

To automatically email your state senator and state representative, asking them to support the legislation, click here to use the Arc Action Center. or:
http://capwiz.com/thearc/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=8118406

For more information, contact any of the organizations listed above, or: Polyxane S. Cobb, CLRD, polyxane@comcast.net"
______________________________
John Thomas
Deputy Director
The Arc of Massachusetts PH 781-891-6270 ext. 104
217 South Street FX 781-891-6271
Waltham, MA 02453 www.arcmass.org

The Arc of Massachusetts’ (formerly the Massachusetts Association for Retarded Citizens) mission is to enhance the lives of individuals with cognitive and developmental disabilities and their families. We accomplish this through advocacy of supports and services based in the community.

Please support our advocacy! https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=2405