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Happy Holidays from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network

22 Dec

Below is an email I received from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Their end-of-year letter:

As we approach the end of the year, many of you will be getting ready to spend the holiday season with your families. As you do, we hope you’ll take a moment to remember all that we’ve accomplished together this year.

From our Navigating College handbook to our Symposium with Harvard Law School on Ethical, Legal and Social Issues in Autism Research, this has been an exciting year for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. We celebrated our fifth anniversary, engaged in advocacy on critical issues like stopping the Judge Rotenberg Center’s abuse of children, fighting for more public support on critical topics like transition supports, true community integration, stopping restraint and seclusion and more.

In addition, our programming has helped build a stronger voice for the Autistic community in many sectors of American life. In our Keeping the Promise report, we partnered with other national self-advocacy groups to help define community living resulting in a document now being used by advocates and policymakers nationwide. Through our participation in the Academic Autistic Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE), we are breaking new ground by ensuring the participation of Autistic voices in the research process. What’s more, 2012 promises to bring even more progress.

In 2012, our new internship program with Freddie Mac will result in new job opportunities for Autistic adults. Our forthcoming Autism Campus Inclusion initiative will help train the next generation of Autistic leaders and build a network of Autistic-run organizations on college campuses across the country. Not to mention our continued advocacy and activism to ensure that wherever autism is being discussed, we have a voice at the table – together.

Will you help support our work to keep the self-advocate voice front and center in 2012? Please consider an end of year donation to the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. With your help, the momentum we have begun this year can continue and build real and lasting change for our shared community. All donations are tax-deductible.

Sincerely,
Ari Ne’eman
President
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

PS. If you are unable or uncomfortable making donations online, donations can be sent to

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
PO Box 66122 NW
Washington, DC 20035

ASAN Symposium on Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Autism Research

2 Dec

If I were local, I’d take the day off and go to this: ASAN Symposium on Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Autism Research. The event is December 10th, and there is more seating available now. But you have to register (it is free):

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, in conjunction with the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics, the Harvard Law Project on Disability and the UNESCO Bioethics Chair American Unit, is proud to invite you, to join us on December 10th for a Symposium on Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Autism Research at Harvard Law School. The free event will run from 9 AM to 3 PM at the Harvard Law School campus, Hauser Hall, Room 105.

Additional seating has become available. Please keep in mind that seating is still limited. Once these seats are taken, there will be no more available. If you are unable to get a seat or cannot make it to Massachusetts, the symposium will also be webcast live. Details to follow next week.

Topics covered will include prenatal testing, community participation in research methodologies, appropriate and inappropriate intervention goals and much more.

This symposium will serve a unique role in shedding light on ethics and values issues within the autism research community. By bringing together self-advocate and researcher participants, we hope this will serve as a starting point for meaningful dialogue between those conducting research on autism and the community of Autistic adults and youth. Confirmed participants include Administration on Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Sharon Lewis, ASAN President and IACC Public Member Ari Ne’eman, National Institute on Child Health and Human Developmental Director Alan Guttmacher, Harvard Law Professor Michael Stein, Paula Durbin-Westby, Emily Titon, Liz Pellicano, David Rose and many more.

This event is open to the general public without charge and is made possible by a grant from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities.
Get more information
Register Now!
I can’t make it
Please join us as we begin this exciting conversation. Space is limited, so please RSVP soon.

Sincerely,

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Judge Rotenberg Center banned from shocking new admissions

14 Nov

The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) has is a special needs school in Massachusetts which employs electric shocks as part of its program on a subset of its students. This practice is controversial, to put it mildly.

With thanks to Kate Gladstone for bringing this to my attention, the JRC has been banned from including these aversives on future students.

The letter below is from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) Disability Rights International which goes into more detail.

JRC Banned from Shocking New Admissions

Dear Supporters,

This week we can celebrate a major victory against torture of people with disabilities in the United States. The Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services (DDS) adopted new regulations last week that greatly restrict the intentional use of pain as a form of treatment – including the use of electric shock, seclusion, and restraints on young children and adults with disabilities. As documented by a recent report by Disability Rights International (DRI), Torture Not Treatment, The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), based in Canton, Massachusetts, has used these practices, called “aversive treatment” for decades.

Facilities licensed by the DDS in Massachusetts can no longer subject new admissions to severe behavioral interventions including electric shock, long-term restraint, or aversives that pose risk for psychological harm — in other words, mainstays of JRC’s “treatment” program.US Report Cover

No other institution in the country – or the world, as far as we can tell – uses such barbaric practices. DRI’s investigation found that the pain caused by this is so severe and outside accepted professional norms, that these practices constitute nothing less than torture. By permitting such treatment, the United States violates its obligations under international law, as defined by the UN Convention Against Torture. DRI filed our report, Torture Not Treatment, in 2010 as an urgent appeal to the United Nations. The top official on torture at the United Nations agreed with DRI, and when asked by ABC Nightline if the practices were torture, he declared, “Yes…I have no doubts about it. It is inflicted in a situation where a victim is powerless…a child in the restraint chair, being then subjected to electric shocks, how more powerless can you be?”

We applaud Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on taking a courageous stand by issuing an executive order for the Massachusetts DDS to review their policies regarding electric shock and other severe aversives.

The resulting new policy puts an end to the use of JRC’s electric shocks on new admissions. But we can’t declare success yet. While hundreds of children will be spared from JRC’s behavioral experiments in the future, the new policies do not stop JRC from shocking and causing psychological damage to children already placed in the center. These children and young adults remain prisoners in a very dangerous environment. The center has been repeatedly investigated for suspicious deaths and physical abuse. JRC has been fined for identifying some clinicians hired by the school as psychologists, when in fact, they were not licensed psychologists. And as a result of an investigation into a case of abuse at the facility, JRC’s director was forced to resign earlier this year after being charged with misleading a grand jury about the investigation.

DRI is encouraged by the bold statement by the US National Council on Disabilities, a federal advisory body, which cited DRI’s report, as well as the international definition of torture, to call for the use of painful shock aversives to be brought to an end.

DRI urges the Department of Justice and the Obama Administration to fullfil its obgligations under the UN Convention Against Torture. DRI calls for a blanket ban on the use of electric shock as aversive treatment for children or adults with disabilities across the nation. There is nothing stopping JRC from shocking kids already in their center — or moving their facility to a different state to avoid the new Massachusetts regulations. The Department of Justice has an open investigation into the treatment of children at JRC. We ask you to write a personal appeal to the investigators to help ensure that this torture is put to an end once and for all, and is never allowed to be duplicated anywhere else in the United States.

We are one large step closer.

Thank you for your continued support,

Laurie Signature

Laurie Ahern,
President

Eric R Sig

Eric Rosenthal,
Executive Director

Autism parent’s listening day

1 Nov

Just as there shouldn’t be any one “Autistics Speaking day” (ASDay), there shouldn’t be any one “autism parent’s listening day”. That said, since this is “Autistics Speaking Day“, and I’m not autistic, I felt I would contribute by listening.

My guess is that Liz Ditz at I Speak of Dreams may compile a list of contributions from around the web in addition to those contributions on Autistics Speaking Day. As such, I’ll try to link to those sites. Julian Frost, over at AutismJungle, has the advantage of time zones and one of the first ASDay posts, Autistics’ Speaking Day: My Sense of Humour. I look forward to more ASDay posts.

‘Wandering’ Diagnosis Gets Green Light

20 Jul

This from the good people at Disability Scoop: ‘Wandering’ Diagnosis Gets Green Light.

Starting this fall, wandering will be added to the list of descriptors doctors can use to diagnose individuals with autism, intellectual disability and other conditions.

The addition comes after a federal committee gave the final go-ahead on a proposal to make wandering a secondary classification that could be applied to individuals with developmental disabilities or other diagnoses.

The concept of a code for doctors to use as a classification for autistics and those with other conditions came to the forefront in the last year. The IACC held meetings on wandering and various autism groups pushed for, and against, adding the code to the ICD-9.

Letter to Massachusetts DDS Commissioner Urging Elimination of Electric Shock, Other Aversives

19 Jul

The National Council on Disability (NCD) has sent a letter to the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services Commissioner on electric shocks and other aversives. Massachusetts is the home of the Judge Rotenberg Center which uses electric shocks as a main part of their program.

July 18, 2011

Elin Howe, Commissioner
Department of Developmental Services
500 Harrison Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02118

COMMENTS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON DISABILITY IN SUPPORT OF PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO REGULATIONS ON BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION AT 115 CMR 5.14[i]

The National Council on Disability (NCD) is an independent federal agency charged with advising the President, Congress, and other Federal agencies regarding laws, policies, practices, and procedures affecting people with disabilities. NCD strongly opposes the use of aversive treatments and accordingly submits these comments.

NCD has a longstanding history of opposing aversive treatments.[ii] As stated in NCD’s 1995 Report Improving the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Making Schools Work for All of America’s Children,

While it is possible to understand the desperation of these parents, to share their exasperation with ineffective programs and treatments, and to sympathize with them in their frustration to locate appropriate programs, there are limits to what society can permit in the name of treatment. There are those in our society who would advocate for severe physical punishment or even the mutilation of prisoners convicted of what everyone would agree are heinous crimes. Yet these prisoners are afforded protection under the law from this treatment, even though there are those who would claim that such treatment would “teach them a lesson.” Students with severe behavioral disabilities are not criminals, and yet present law allows them to be subjected to procedures which cannot be used on the most hardened criminals, or, in some cases, even on animals.[iii]

NCD applauds the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services (DDS) for taking steps toward drastically restricting use of aversive punishment, and we urge complete elimination of such methods. The use of electric shock is not a legitimate method of treatment for any person. Such measures – whose use against non-disabled individuals is already recognized as illegal and immoral – are contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act. We urge the Department of Developmental Services to protect both future students and current ones from the use of contingent electric shock and all other such aversive techniques.

In light of the effect on children and youth and with disabilities nationwide, NCD is gravely concerned by the use of aversive treatments at the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), in Canton, Massachusetts — the only known school in the United States to provide such treatment. We are aware that students from an estimated 17 other states and the District of Columbia attend JRC and are therefore potential recipients of such aversive treatments.[iv] As such, NCD views this as a significant issue of national importance.

The treatment being provided at JRC is contrary to federal policy and the findings of mental health research. The 2003 President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health stated that restraint will be used only as safety interventions of last resort, not as treatment interventions.[v] Similarly, the US Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse (HHS) and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) has found that seclusion and restraints are detrimental to the recovery of persons with mental illnesses.[vi]

The practices of JRC are equally contrary to the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act) which states in part:

“…The Federal Government and the States both have an obligation to ensure that public funds are provided only to institutional programs, residential programs, and other community programs, including educational programs in which individuals with developmental disabilities participate, that… meet minimum standards relating to- provision of care that is free of abuse, neglect, sexual and financial exploitation, and violations of legal and human rights and that subjects individuals with developmental disabilities to no greater risk of harm than others in the general population… and prohibition of the use of such restraint and seclusion as a punishment or as a substitute for a habilitation program…” (emphasis added).[vii]

The objectionable practices at JRC have not only attracted national attention but have also been scrutinized internationally. According to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, “. . . the term torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted . . . for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”[viii]

In April 2010, Disability Rights International (formerly Mental Disability Rights International) issued an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture concerning the practices at JRC.[ix] Subsequently, in June 2010, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture stated that the practices of the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts equate to torture and urged the US government to appeal.[x] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is now investigating these, and other, allegations.[xi]

The regulations proposed by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) send a strong message that aversive treatment should not be readily provided, but they must go further. It is critical that the DDS address the concerns identified here and supplement its regulations accordingly.

Thank you for considering our comments and recommendations. NCD stands ready to assist you in ways that our collaboration can best benefit students with disabilities and their families while promoting safe learning environments for all students across America. We are available to discuss these matters at your earliest convenience. Please contact me through NCD’s offices at (202) 272-2004.

Respectfully,

Ari Ne’eman
Policy and Program Evaluation Committee Chair
National Council on Disability

[i] With thanks to NCD Council Member Marylyn Howe and NCD Staff Robyn Powell for their invaluable support and assistance in research and drafting.

[ii] National Council on Disability, From Privileges to Rights: People Labeled with Psychiatric Disabilities Speak for Themselves (2002), available at http://www.ncd.gov/publications/2000/Jan202000; National Council on Disability, Improving the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Making Schools Work for All of America’s Children (1995), available at http://www.ncd.gov/publications/1995/09051995.

[iii] Id.

[iv] CNN, New York Education Officials Ban Shock Therapy (2006), available at http://articles.cnn.com/2006-06-21/politics/shock.therapy.school_1_shock-therapy-electric-shock-geds?_s=PM:EDUCATION.

[v] Mental Disability Rights International, Torture Not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center (2010), 12, available at http://www.disabilityrightsintl.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/USReportandUrgentAppeal.pdf.

[vi] Id.

[vii] 42 U.S.C. § 15009(a)(3)(B)(i-iii) (2000).

[viii] UN General Assembly, Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Article 1(1), 10 December 1984, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1465, p. 85, available at http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6b3a94.html.

[ix] Mental Disability Rights International, Torture Not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center (2010), 12, available at http://www.disabilityrightsintl.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/USReportandUrgentAppeal.pdf.

[x] ABC News/Nightline, UN Calls Treatment at Mass. School ‘Torture’ (2010), available at http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/shock-therapy-massachussetts-school/story?id=11047334.

[xi] US Department of Justice, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez Speaks at the National Council on Independent Living Annual Conference (2010), available at http://www.justice.gov/crt/opa/pr/speeches/2010/crt-speech-100719.html.

ACTION ALERT: What Does Community Mean To You? Let Medicaid Know!

11 Jun

Here is an action alert from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)

What does community mean to you? For some people, this question doesn’t mean much but for the hundreds of thousands of Americans receiving Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), the meaning of community has huge implications. Last year, the State of Missouri attempted to use Medicaid dollars allocated to serving individuals with disabilities in the community for the construction of group homes on the grounds of an institution. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) quite rightly refused to allow Missouri to use Medicaid HCBS funding for this plan, as the purpose of the HCBS program is to help people avoid institutionalization, not to support settings that further segregate people from their communities.

Now our friends at CMS are trying to put in place strong minimum standards for HCBS settings, to prevent what almost happened in Missouri from occurring in the future. CMS has proposed regulations which would prevent HCBS dollars going to institutional facilities, settings which are on the grounds of an institution, settings which are segregated on the basis of disability and settings which have the characteristics of an institution, such as lack of privacy or rules about when people can eat and sleep. This is an unprecedented opportunity for the disability community to support a real minimum standard for community living.

We need your help to make these standards a reality. CMS’ proposed rulemaking (available here) is only open for comments for four more days (it closes this Tuesday, June 14th at 5 PM) and we know that the usual suspects in the institution and nursing home industry have already written in opposing any standards for how HCBS dollars are used. We need people to write in to tell CMS that community living does not occur on the grounds of an institution and doesn’t include arbitrary restrictions on the rights of people with disabilities.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Write in to CMS and tell them that you SUPPORT the proposed rulemaking by going to: http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=CMS-2009-0071-0302

2. Don’t hesitate to add in your thoughts about what Community should mean and make suggestions about things that CMS could add to their proposed rulemaking. If you’re looking for ideas, don’t hesitate to use ASAN’s comments as an example. You can feel free to use our language if it makes it easier. Our comments are available here: http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=153

3. Send a copy of this advocacy alert to your friends and colleagues encouraging them to write in too – the more people who write in – be they people with disabilities, parents, professionals or just supportive allies – the stronger our position will be. Help us get the word out!

Remember to write in by THIS TUESDAY June 14th at 5 PM. This is a critical opportunity to have our voices heard and we shouldn’t let it pass us by. Remember, Nothing About Us, Without Us!

Regards,
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Why are some autism groups silent on the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act?

29 May

Last week, the Combating Autism Reathorization Act was introduced into the U.S. legislature last week. Many organizations were ready with quick responses: the Autism Science Foundation, ASAN, and Autism Speaks to name a few.

How about the organizations which promote the idea that autism is a vaccine injury? Organizations like Generation Rescue, the National Autism Association and SafeMinds, and Talk About Curing Autism?

A quick survey of their websites shows nothing. Nothing on the front pages that I can see. Nothing on their news pages. If I’ve missed it, let me know.

Sure, you can find great information on their sites. Like “Vaccine Injury/Autism Study, A Federal Cover-Up?” or how to buy compounded drugs or sunglasses. Or “Jenny McCarthy” in big letters. But on a key piece of legislation comes through and there’s essentially silence.

Just an observation.

ASAN: Tell Congress “No” to Three More Years of the Same On Autism Policy

29 May

The Combating Autism Re-authorization Act (CARA) has been started in the U.S. legislature. The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) has issued a position statement on the bill:

Today, Senators Menendez and Enzi will be introducing legislation extending the Combating Autism Act for three more years. The Combating Autism Act was passed in 2005 without the involvement or consultation of a single Autistic person, let alone the broader self-advocate community. Without legislative action by Congress, the Act would expire on September 30th of this year. While we respect the Senators’ good intentions, the Menendez-Enzi legislation would freeze in place the current flawed CAA programs, which fail to make any provision for services, do not incorporate anything about adults on the autism spectrum and exclude self-advocates. As a result, ASAN opposes any long term re-authorization of CAA without badly needed investments in services and vital program reforms to ensure self-advocates are involved at every level. We’re urging you to call your Senators and tell them to OPPOSE the Menendez-Enzi re-authorization legislation as too long an extension without any of the needed reforms. You can reach them through the Capital Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 by giving your state and asking to be put through to your Senator. Making the call and urging their opposition is important even if you don’t feel comfortable having a longer conversation, but if you want to provide additional reasons to oppose this extension we have provided several below:

A three year extension of the existing Combating Autism Act means a three year delay before Congress takes any meaningful action on services for Autistic people across the lifespan. It means three years before any new supports for adults on the autism spectrum are introduced and three years before any of the problems with the status quo are fixed. We can’t afford to wait that long.

CAA’s existing programs enable a severe bias in the autism research agenda against services and adult issues. According to the recently released IACC Research Portfolio, less than one percent of autism research dollars spent in 2009 went to research relating to adults while only three percent went to research about improving services, supports and education! This inequity calls out for change.

CAA’s existing structure excludes the very people who should be at the center of the autism conversation: Autistic people ourselves. By locking in place for another three years a bill that was passed without the involvement of self-advocates, Congress would be sending a message that the needs and perspectives of Autistic adults don’t matter.

Any long term extension of CAA must involve additional investments in services, greater inclusion of self-advocates in every program and more respectful language shifting from “combating autism” to supporting Autistic people. Call Congress today at (202) 224-3121! Remember to call twice in order to reach both of your Senators. If for accessibility reasons, you need to e-mail your Senators instead you can find their e-mails on the Senate website at this link.

We need your help to remind Congress they can’t ignore the voices of the Autistic community. As always, Nothing About Us, Without Us!

Regards,

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Perhaps this time I’ve gone too far….

19 May

OK, it isn’t me that’s gone too far this time. It’s Alison Singer of the Autism Science Foundation. Here’s her message:

What won’t I do to raise money for autism research? This time, I’ll be riding on the back of a motorcycle from Rockville Centre NY to the Montauk Lighthouse with the AML Bikers for Charity, who have chosen to support the Autism Science Foundation with their ride again this year on June 13. Am I scared? In a word, YES!. But not as scared as I am that we are not funding autism research fast enough. Having just returned from the International Meeting for Autism Research, I am more optimistic than ever that we are on our way to finding new treatments and eventually a cure for autism, but there is still a lot of work ahead of us and we need your help.

Please sponsor me as a rider in the AML Bikers for Charity by clicking on this link and then clicking the “donate” button underneath the thermometer. Your support will mean more funds for research that will make a difference for individuals with autism and their families.

The Autism Science Foundation is a 501(c)3 public charity. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Learn more about ASF at www.autismsciencefoundation.org.

Here’s the donation link again: https://ssl.charityweb.net/autismsciencefoundation/activities/alisonsinger.htm

Want to join the ride? Click here to learn more and register as a biker.

Thank you so much!

Alison

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