JRC admits to there shock device causing skin blisters

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This is not new, however I don’t know if anyone noticed this. On JRC’s website they talk about the electrical shocks they use and the shock device. Not the JRC website that most are familiar with, there other website. Take a look at it if you have not yet http://www.effectivetreatment.org/ On there they have an article which goes into detail about there shock device http://www.effectivetreatment.org/remote.html. Doing some calculations from it I can see that it puts out 122.76 volts (13.4 k Ohms * 12.8mA) to 171.52 volts (3.1 k Ohms 39.6mA) and about 2.1955 to 4.8613 watts (volts * amps = watts) depending on skin resistance of the person who receives the shocks. Do note however those voltage and wattage calculations are just theorized from some of the information in there testing, and they did not mention actual voltage measurements from when they shocked the volunteers. This painful electric shock is administered for a period of 2 full seconds at a 25% duty cycle at 80 Hz.

But I digress. The main point is that in this article under “Safety Issues” it says, “A second effect, which has been noted at some time in about one third of our students, has been slight erythema and, in a few cases, a skin blister. We have found that these effects can be avoided by altering the location of the electrodes or by adjusting the duration or voltage of the device.” So there you have it, right from the horses mouth, it can cause skin blisters.

Just wanted to point this out.

#JRC #StopTheShock #ShutDownJRC #PassH180 #JRCSueMeToo

Bathed in Front of an Audience (cruel & humiliating)

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The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) has been known to do this to it’s residents, in fact Jennifer Msumba has even testified to this in her book “Shouting at Leaves” about her extremely abusive experiences there. Now I don’t know if they have stopped this particular practice or not, but anyway it shows there track record for cruel and unusual punishment which is supposed to be illegal in this country (USA) the same country where JRC is.

They take a resident that is totally capable of washing themself and they strap them to a board naked in front of cameras that are monitored by both men and woman. And they wash them.

This is done as a punishment because the resident didn’t “earn” the right to bathe themself. How F-ed up is that?!

I just want to point this out to show that they are cruel in ways besides using there shock devices to torture there residents by shocking them for completely innocuous behaviors.

Why is this treatment accepted when it is done to the disabled? Would it be accepted if it was done to people without a disability?

#JRC #StopTheShock #ShutDownJRC #PassH180 #JRCSueMeToo

Handling Violent Behavior

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I don’t understand why the state or courts can’t make a rule saying the electric shocks at the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) have to be limited to just serious behavior to only include self injurious behavior, physically attacking others, and property destruction. Yes each student has to be court approved to receive shocks but the courts just let JRC shock the students for every little behavior. Although JRC says they need to shock the students for violent behavior reports show that they have used it for things very innocuous including motor tics (involuntary movement), waving hand in front of face, out of seat/bed without permission, just basically anything staff find annoying.

There are other ways to handle violent behavior, including restraints. But people need to be treated as they are valuable. Talking a person down when they get upset is best when possible, so they don’t have to get to the point where they need to be restrained or shocked. But shocking someone when they are angry is not always effective at stopping a person. Restraint will always stop someone, but it can take a lot of force and at least several people. Tasers are used by people to stop someone. But the problem with tasers is the same, it is to gain compliance through pain. You may be able to stop someone with a taser, but if they are very angry at you they might just fight right through the pain and attack you anyway. In mental hospitals sedative drugs are also used. They ether ask the patient to take them orally or inject it in a muscle. But drugs take time to work, and sometimes have side effects.

I would love to know if there were cases where they used a shock to try to stop someone at JRC from acting out only for it to fail. Again you physically restrain someone then they are physically unable to act out, but you use pain and it can just make them more angry.

Also because of the weird ways the laws are set up residents at JRC admitted after a certain date (October 2011 I believe) are not allowed to be shocked at all. So how do they handle them? One might ask.

Should shocks even be used at all? Some parents and most impotently even some JRC students are in favor of electric shocks. However some students say there experience at JRC was torture and are vehemently against the shocks.

Outside JRC some people do voluntarily use electric shocks as a way to try to stop unwanted behavior this is refereed to as “Aversion Therapy”, and sometimes other aversives are used, for example a drug that makes you sick and throw up if you drink alcohol.

Another technique people use for unwanted behavior is called “thought stopping” where a person tells themself “STOP” and pictures a stop sign when they have unwanted thoughts or behaviors. Personally I use a rubber band that I snap when I get upset and act out (yell and/or swear), it doesn’t really hurt, but it helps me to stop. Many people have used the rubber band technique to try to help them with thoughts or behaviors.

Behavior therapy works best though when you are doing it with the client working together with them. That’s why it is best when the client is included always. They need to be part of the discussion. It should be about helping them to improve, not convenience for the staff. This includes any form of treatment, medication, copping techniques, and behavior intervention. There needs to be a discussion with the client. And they need to feel free to voice there opinions and concerns.

BRI/JRC was first created as an attempt at Utopia

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That’s right. When Mathew Isreal first created The Behavior Research Institute now known a The Judge Rotenberg Center, he was trying to create a Utopia. Talk about “road to hell paved on good intentions.”

This is what I commented on a post on Facebook saying that society could be changed into basically a utopia. Well it didn’t say Utopia, it said “higher standard of living then any have ever know” (supposedly quoting Buckminster Fuller):

It could be done. But it require massive change to society. To change change society that much over the whole planet would require a massive amount of change. The best we can do for now is to demonstrate this with smaller prototype societies. There has been work towards this with things like The Venus Project. There was an effort done by a massive about of people in US lead by teachings of BF Skinner to create a Utopia. Interestingly one of those followers Mathew Isreal had created from this a place known for extremely cruel torture of mentally disabled people. A place that uses pain to control there residents and has put people through living hell, inflicting torture so cruel I it baffles my mind how could have been sadistic and cruel enough to carry out such torture. Inflicting residents to intense physical pain for behaviors so innocuous, minor things like tics and hand waving, that they could hardly be considered bad behavors. And inflicting intense psychological torture. That is one place, still open (not as cruel as they used to be) that was created from the desire to create a utopia. Sorry for the rant. But in the wrong hands the best intentions, a utopia can turn into a torture facility. By the way the place is called The Judge Rotenberg Center formerly Behavior Research Institute. (I feel kind of bad bringing this place up here but I just wanted to mention this as one example of an attempt at Utopia.) By the way that place is located not in some 3rd world country but right here in the United States of America.

The original post I commented on is this: click here

JRC Residents NOT Allowed to Call Disability Rights

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“We were not allowed to call the DPPC or any other agency. They said our judgement was “substituted” by the court, and also because JRC had sued those agencies in the past there was some kind of exemption. Don’t quote me but that’s what I was told and had understood from reading. All my other programs in Ma had let me call the agencies if I had a complaint but not JRC. We were not allowed free access to the phone, and for me all my calls had to be monitored by a case manager. As soon as I made a complaint to family or whomever I was forced to hang up. We were assigned lawyers if we were on GED, but they were not helpful” – Jennifer Msumba

So the disabled residents/students/prisoners at JRC are not allowed to call the disability rights agency that is supposed to protect the disabled from being abused. They protect people in many other facilities but not JRC. So JRC is allowed to torture them and the residents/students/prisoners are not even allowed to call for help. THIS IS SICK! THIS HAS TO BE STOPPED!