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The odd thing is that in my teens, I wanted to volunteer for a center for the mentally disabled but quit after the orientation because the treated the kids were so cruelly and cursed at. By definition, the kids were slow so more drastic disciplinary measures may be needed. But cursing is not necessary. I guess that just like the priests, those who look after special needs children can be abusive. But electro shock is obviously way harsher.

Hi, my name is Gregory Miller. I used to work at a school in Massachusetts named The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) where we used powerfully painful electric shock devices (45 – 91 milliamps, at 66 volts) on students to control their behaviors. These devices are much stronger than police stun guns (1-4 milliamps). Unlike stun guns, the electrodes most commonly used at school are spaced 3 – 4 inches apart so that the electrical volts passing through the flesh create the maximum amount of pain with those amps and volts. The United Nations is aware of JRC, has called these shocks at JRC “torture”, and says that “The prohibition of torture is absolute.” Please see the attached video of a student named Andre getting shocked at JRC, covered by Fox News.

Rather than shocking students for only severe behaviors, JRC also shocks students for minor behaviors, such as closing eyes for 15 seconds while sitting at the desk, pulling apart a loose piece of thread, tearing an empty used paper cup, going to the bathroom in one’s clothes after signing that they need to use the bathroom for over two hours, standing up and raising a hand to ask to go to the bathroom, blowing small bubbles in saliva between one’s lips, and shocking a non-verbal nearly blind girl with cerebral palsy for making a moaning sound and for attempts to hold a staff’s hand (her attempts to communicate and to be loved).

I would greatly appreciate your help to protect my former students by petitioning Massachusetts legislators to make these shock procedures illegal. These students are among Massachusetts’ most vulnerable citizens and have no voice of their own to describe their pain. They need YOUR voice!

Whether you are an American, or are from elsewhere within the United Nations, I urge you to please CLICK on the Petition Letter tab to carefully read the petition that is based on what I have personally witnessed at JRC, and sign the petition.  Then please invite as many friends as you can through www.Change.Org, email, Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere, to sign this petition.  Please value these student lives enough to let Massachusetts know that Americans do not condone shock procedures in this country. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Gregory Miller

SIGN:   CHANGE.ORG