#StopTheShock: Why We Should All Support Andre’s Law in New York

October 3, 2022 garyglennell

From the News Vault
(May 13, 2022)

By Tony Alexander

Last week, Lydia X. Z. Brown and I traveled to Albany, New York to speak at a press conference within the New York state capitol. We urged state legislators to pass New York Senate Bill 8935, named Andre’s Law for Andre McCollins, a survivor of abuse at the Judge Rotenberg Center. This long overdue bill, sponsored by Senator Jabari Brisport (and Assemblymembers Harvey Epstein and Jo Anne Simon in the Assembly), would prevent the state from financially supporting institutions that use harmful treatments. If the bill becomes law, the state will cease sending New York residents to institutions that employ electric shock aversives and other types of aversive “therapy.” I placed therapy in quotation marks because there is nothing therapeutic, or healing, about aversive treatment.

Aversive treatment, which subjects people to punishment for (subjectively) undesired behavior, is widely recognized as a cruel and ineffective practice. Only one institution (out of all the hospitals, schools and residential facilities) within the U.S. is known to employ electric shock aversive treatment. That institution is the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) in Canton, Massachusetts.

So why is New York’s Andre’s Law essentially targeting a Massachusetts institution? How are they related? Well, the state of New York—which banned aversive treatment within its own state borders in 2005—has spent approximately $100 million dollars over the last decade sending disabled people to out-of-state facilities, including JRC. Furthermore, many of the people at JRC are Black and Brown disabled people. As of 2018, 52% of JRC’s student body is Black and 27% are Latinx, compared to only 17% who are white (data on the adults who are sent to JRC is unknown).

Click here for the full article.

Source: The Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network

Will You Honor This Woman’s Memory and Request, Governor Hochul?

The following letter was submitted to From The G-Man in April of this year by Ms. Harriet Hines. The Brooklyn resident and former city council candidate was a staunch advocate for the disabled in her community and beyond. She was scheduled to appear on this site’s affiliate, The G-Man Interviews, to discuss her letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and ongoing effort to prevent children and teens of color in New York City from being sent to the Judge Rotenberg Center for electro-shock treatments. One day after speaking with Ms. Hines about appearing on the show, From The G-Man was informed that she passed away. The letter is being published in honor of her work as an advocate and quest for justice. What are you going to do, Governor Hochul? What are you going to do?