A Message from Autistic Self advocacy Network (ASAN)
For decades, the disability community has worked to ban the use of electric shock torture at the Judge Rotenberg Center. The JRC, where most of the “students” are Black and brown, is the only institution in the United States that still uses this practice, something the United Nations classified as torture in 2013. Thanks to your advocacy, we’ve seen the FDA finalize regulations that banned the manufacture, distribution, and use of skin shock devices. But in an infuriating decision, the ban was overturned last year , leaving students with intellectual and developmental disabilities still subject to electric shocks to control their behavior. But the fight is not over. Congress has the power to ban electric shock torture through FDA-related bills. The House just passed its version , and now it’s time for the Senate to act. The FDA Amendments Act (House version) or FDASLA (Senate version) reauthorizes FDA user fees, which are payments from drug and medical device manufacturers to th