The first book to be written on the Judge Rotenberg Center and their
use of painful interventions to control the behavior of children and
adults with disabilities.
For more than forty years, professionals in the field of disability
studies have engaged in debates over the use of aversive interventions
(such as electric shock) like the ones used at the Judge Rotenberg
Center. Advocates and lawyers have filed complaints and lawsuits to both
use them and ban them, scientists have written hundreds of articles for
and against them, and people with disabilities have lost their lives
and, some would say, lived their lives because of them. There are
families who believe deeply in the need to use aversives to control
their children's behavior. There are others who believe the techniques
used are torture. All of these families have children who have been
excluded from numerous educational and treatment programs because of
their behaviors. For most of the families, placement at the Judge
Rotenberg Center is the last resort.
This book is a historical case study of the Judge Rotenberg Center,
named after the judge who ruled in favor of keeping its doors open to
use aversive interventions. It chronicles and analyzes the events and
people involved for over forty years that contributed to the inability
of the state of Massachusetts to stop the use of electric shock, and
other severe forms of punishment on children and adults with
disabilities. It is a long story, sad and tragic, complex, filled with
intrigue and questions about society and its ability to protect and
support its most vulnerable citizens.
