Activists Tell FDA Head – Ban Electric Shocks on Autistic People. Do you agree?

Autism and electric shock therapy

Autism and electric shock therapy

The disability community wants to see devices that deliver electric shocks eliminated from the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts.

Members of ADAPT, a disability rights collective, rolled through the streets of Washington, D.C., last weekend to make camp outside FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s house, where they remained as of Friday morning.

They say they’ll stay until he agrees to finalize a proposed rule that would ban the use of graduated electronic decelerator (GED) devices, which are used to deliver targeted electric shocks in an extreme form of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a controversial form of therapy used with some autistic patients. But refraining from shocking autistic people in the name of therapy is, advocates claim, only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to changing the way we treat autistic people.

ADAPT activists say GEDs are “barbaric,” equating their use to torture. Gottlieb, they say, has refused to meet with them, though they and groups like the Autistic Self Advocacy Network submitted commentsduring the rulemaking process. “The FDA is working to finalize the proposed ban on electroshock devices. We cannot speculate on the timing for finalizing the rule,” FDA spokesperson Stephanie Caccomo told Rewire.News.

 

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