The Truth About The Judge Rotenberg Centre
Even if you believe their every claim, the place is still terrifying
The Judge Rotenberg Centre
The Judge Rotenberg Centre (JRC) is a day and residential school located in Canton, Massachusetts licensed to “serve” (torture) children as young as five years old, all the way through to adulthood.
This so-called “educational” centre (their self-proclaimed title) uses electric shock devices on disabled and Autistic people in order to force compliance.
The JRC claims they only use these torture devices to stop “harmful” and dangerous behaviours (not that this would excuse it anyway), but there is extensive evidence from former staff and residents proving this is an outright lie.
There is even video evidence of a young man being shocked for refusing to remove his coat. I wonder how the JRC determined that being a little chilly is “dangerous” behaviour. (There are other videos which are even worse, but I cannot bring myself to watch them).
Some of the reasons people have been shocked with these devices are:
- Getting out of their seat without permission
- Refusing to eat food offered to them
- Swearing and/or yelling
- Covering eyes or ears
- Repetitive hand motions in front of one’s eyes or face
- Running away, or attempting to run away
- Having bathroom accidents (urinating or defecating outside of a toilet)
Some of these are outside of people’s control, some of these are behaviours which signal a person is in distress, some are normal Autistic “behaviours”, and some are simply human beings making choices about their own bodies.
If someone were shocking — or threatening to shock — me, I’d probably yell, swear, or run away. I sure as hell wouldn’t have much of an appetite to sit down and eat a meal, and I’d most certainly be engaging in self-soothing (i.e. rocking, stimming) and avoidance behaviours (i.e. covering eyes or ears).
Their own messaging tells on them
Even if you take them at their word (I absolutely do not, but let’s pretend), this place is terrifying. If you take a look at the JRC’s website, you can see their approaches are 100% behaviourism-based. The things they brag about actually disgust me.
I can highlight extensive issues with their programming without even getting to the fact that they use shock to force compliance from vulnerable human beings.
They have a “big reward” store where residents can purchase rewards with money they earn for doing schoolwork or progressing on “behavioural goals”. Guess who develops those goals? (Spoiler alert: It’s not the residents).
They must comply with the programming demands in order to earn access to: the Internet café, hair salon, movie theatre, snack bar, amusement area, arcade, field trips and “outings” — y’know, things people get every day just for being people.
It gets worse.
They have to earn the “privilege” (right) to play on the playground, use the basketball court, watch T.V., play video games, use the fitness room, and have parties — all based on criteria determined by staff.
Reading the JRC’s so-called “positive programming” page truly makes me feel sick to my stomach. Their procedure is outlined as follows:
- Identify behaviours to be changed;
- Record and chart their frequency;
- Make available “powerful” rewards (i.e. things that should be the right of every human being to have or use);
- Set up academic and behavioural financial rewards;
- Set up behavioural contracts (which residents have no choice but to agree to); and
- Set up a loss of privilege procedure
This reminds me of sending dogs away to board-and-train facilities, telling the trainer to “get rid of” an unwanted behaviour, paying them a bunch of money, then picking the dog up a few weeks later.
I was a positive dog trainer for more than a decade, and I didn’t even recommend this approach with dogs (in fact, I spoke out against it), let alone vulnerable human beings.
“Problematic” behaviours
The JRC found it convenient to categorize problematic behaviours as belonging to one of seven broad categories, the last four of which are:
- Noncompliance (such as refusing to follow a learned direction)
- Major disruptive behaviours (such as screaming or stealing)
- Educationally and Socially-Interfering behaviours
- Inappropriate Verbal Behaviours
Their “rewards for positive behaviour” listed on their sample chart are: verbal praise, 1 jellybean, or 1 rice snack. Ew. Seriously. They’re not even trying to hide the fact that this is dog training being performed on humans.
Behaviourism apologists, do not come at me with your “we all learn the same way”, or “we all learn through rewards and consequences every day”. As I mentioned, I was a certified dog trainer. I know my quadrants, I know how this works.
There’s a significant difference between natural consequences like if I don’t wear my coat I might be cold, and “do this thing you don’t want to do, otherwise you won’t get the thing you want”.
There’s a massive power imbalance between residents and staff in places like the JRC. Staff literally hold the keys to locked doors and have the power to provide or withhold essentials like food from the residents.
There is no way in hell we can compare that with an adult choosing to go to work to earn a paycheque, or an adult getting a speeding ticket because they chose to speed.
It would be more like my husband locking up the food in our house and refusing to let me eat unless I performed a particular behaviour he deemed necessary. Or us locking up all of our son’s toys and refusing him access unless he does something he doesn’t want to do, because we said so.
The residents of JRC are not there of their own free will, and they do not have autonomy or choice.
Their families had them locked up there because they thought they had no other choice, and now staff have control over every facet of their lives. Staff can control when they sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, work, play, attend school — or do pretty much anything.
A little story
Once when my son was about 2 1/2 years old, I arrived to pick him up at daycare. A daycare worker was trying to get him to sit down so she could talk with him. Apparently my son had hit another child and was refusing to listen (he was two, mind you).
I talked to the worker for a few minutes, then realized my son needed a diaper change. I don’t need to paint you a picture to explain why my son was refusing to sit down for the lady — would you want to sit in your own excrement?
My point with this example is the daycare worker got tunnel vision and assumed my son was being “noncompliant”. She was focused on getting my son to apologize to the other child, completely missing the fact that — to put it indelicately — he’d just taken a dump.
When we become invested in “winning”, in obtaining obedience, we lose our humanity. Pushing someone to do something they don’t want to simply ‘because you said so’ means ignoring their feelings and denying their right to autonomy.
Noncompliance is a life skill
Some of the “problematic” behaviours listed on the sample chart on the JRC website are:
- Leave supervised area;
- Pressurize ears;
- Swear;
- Out of seat without permission;
- Stopping work;
- Refuse to follow a learned direction
What in the actual fuck? Control issues much?
Oh, I guess I don’t get my jellybean now.
Wait, I can get my own goddamn jellybean, and I can swear all I want while doing it too.
What if someone is trying to get up or leave because they are scared? What if someone is covering their ears because it’s too loud in the room? What if they’re manipulating objects because it feels good and helps them focus? What if they’re stopping their work or not following a direction because they don’t bloody want to do it?
Apparently what they want and need doesn’t matter, all that matters is controlling their every move and controlling their environment to such excess they have no choice but to comply.
Human beings have the right to not follow directions, to get up and move when they want to, or to cover their own goddamn ears. In fact, a lot of animal trainers have embraced the power of choice and provide their animals choice.
There’s no excuse for not doing better for vulnerable human beings.
© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB
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