U.N. calls for investigation at autism facility
July 1st, 2010
The Autism News | English
By Claude Solnik | Long Island Business News
A high ranking United Nations official has declared electric shock to be “torture” as it’s used at a facility treating autistic students and requested the United States government to investigate the allegations.
The Judge Rotenberg Center, in Canton, Mass., uses electricity to shock autistic children and children with severe behavior problems.
About 100 students, or nearly half of those cared for at the facility, are from New York state.
Michael Flammia, a lawyer who represents the center and a parent group, told LIBN about half of the center’s students receive electric shock.
Although debate and litigation continues as to whether “skin shock” should be allowed, the United Nations’ involvement lifted the discussion to a new, global level.
Manfred Nowak, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Torture said on a Nightline segment last night that he believed the treatment to be torture.
The official charged with identifying and notifying governments of possible cases of torture said he contacted the United States government after receiving a report and urgent appeal for action from Washington, D.C.-based Mental Disability Rights International.
“To be frank, I was shocked when I was reading the report,” Nowak said on the show.
The United Nations made the request for the Obama Administration to investigate, as a signatory to the U.N. convention against torture.
“Electricity in general is considered torture in every other context,” Laurie Ahern, president of Mental Disability Rights International, told LIBN. “That’s one of the ideas of torture.”
The school’s founder and chief, Matthew Israel, in an interview Nightline conducted in 2007 and replayed last night, said electricity has “no side effects” and is “extremely effective as a corrective procedure” for patients with self-destructive behavior.
He insisted levels are enough to cause pain, but far better than the alternative of sedation through medication, leaving children “drugged up to their gills with drugs that cause them to be so sedated that they potentially sleep all day.”
Ahern told LIBN she sees this as a false choice, noting the center treats only about 200 students, while many more receive a wide range of treatments elsewhere.
She also noted students can remain there for decades, subject to shocks, and cited students who had thrived after leaving the center.
Ahern said the use of electricity on students or patients is inappropriate just as it is on prisoners in order to obtain information, regardless of the strength of the shock.
“You can’t have torture light,” she said. “That’s the reason torture’s prevented. It’s a slippery slope.”
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United States of Autism: Behind the Scenes
July 1st, 2010
The Autism News | English
By KPTH FOX 44
ROCK RAPIDS, IA – Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project, a film crew is traveling 10,000 miles in 40 days documenting the United States of Autism. They’ll meet 20 families including the Wessels from Rock Rapids, Iowa.
As autism advocates, the Wessels are at home in front of the camera but that doesn’t make sharing their story with the film’s creator any easier.
“Well I worry about how we’ll come across, is our message clear, yeah how we’re portraying ourselves – is it accurate?” ponders Linda Wessels, United States of Autism family.
The United States of Autism crew wants to document all 20 families as authentically as possible, capturing real connections rarely seen on camera.
“Well one of the things we’ve found is, we just shoot everything. We just come in, we turn the cameras on and we just let them roll and after a little bit, the families don’t even notice them anymore,” says Richard Everts, United States of Autism executive producer.
Despite her reservations, Lin Wessels wants people to understand her son Sam’s struggle with autism.
“I hope it brings greater awareness and a better understanding,” says Wessels.
“Connect this story to the American story and show people that they can learn so much from these families affected by autism,” says Everts.
Impacting the national narrative by highlighting a diverse spectrum of autism families.
“If it’s to be, it’s up to me so we have to put ourselves out there whether we’re comfortable with it or not,” says Wessels.
That means reaching out – through film – to others touched by autism.
“I really hope that our message helps at least one other family,” says Wessels.
Thursday was Day 10 of the crew’s 40-day journey across America. They will shoot about 150 hours and edit that into the final documentary by 2011.
We documented the Wessels’ story back in March as they were preparing for the project. If you’d like to watch it again, check out the video at www.facebook.com/ErikaThomasTV. You can read the script in its entirety below from 3/1/2010:
Eight-year-old Sam Wessels was diagnosed with autism six years ago. The Rock Rapids boy and his family are now set to be featured in a documentary highlighting 20 families across the nation in the United States of Autism.
“She walked in and she said, we have your diagnosis and it is autism. And the world stopped,” says Linda Wessels, Sam’s mother.
That moment was six years ago this month and it changed the Wessels’ lives forever.
“He was almost not reachable. And honestly after we got the diagnosis, I could see him slipping even further away and I was so at a loss for how to reach him and how to help him,” says Wessels.
After years of therapies and treatments, Sam transitioned from classic autism to high-functioning.
“You know, life is hard for most people. I’m one of them. So my parents try to make my life easier,” says Sam Wessels.
Linda Wessels is fighting for her son, every day since his diagnosis. When she couldn’t get him the state services he needed, she became an advocate.
“From that moment on, I knew it was up to us. And the only way to change it was to start changing the system,” says Wessels.
Through Facebook she’s connected with other families and children with autism.
“Autism doesn’t play favorites. You think it won’t happen to you but it can,” says Wessels.
Now the Wessels will be one of 20 families in the documentary, covering 10,000 miles and five languages.
“We are just all families in the melting pot of America,” says Wessels.
Linda hopes the film will show the entire spectrum of autism and the hope families have.
“Families with autism have optimism too that one day, we will find the things that our families need and maybe even cure and prevent autism one day,” says Wessels.
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