- Target:
- Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts State Legislature
- Region:
- United States of America
At the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts, individuals with disabilities are frequently shocked using electricity for infractions relating to behaviors that they cannot always control.
These shocks have never been proven to actually work and modify behavior in the long term, and many people have spoken out against them. They are cruel and inhumane, and they must be stopped.
We, the undersigned, hereby ask Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts State Legislature to declare all shocks of people with and without disabilities for the purposes of behavior modification in a school or residential setting, illegal. These shocks are cruel, inhumane and painful.
We believe that by administering them, the Judge Rotenberg Center is discriminating against people with disabilities by not exploring all treatment options available, of which there are many proven ones.
Also, the people being given the shocks are disempowered and are not in a position to speak up for themselves and their own needs. The shocking system used would be classified as 'torture' under the Geneva Convention, and to deny people with disabilities due protection under this and other laws is to deny them their right to be treated as human beings in the commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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The End Shock Treatment of People with Disabilities petition to Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts State Legislature was written by StoptheShocks and is in the category Government at GoPetition.