Advocates for the mentally disabled are lobbying the world’s largest psychologists’ group to ban the practice of electroshock therapy that is currently being used on D.C. children in a Massachusetts clinic, The Examiner has learned.
Since October, more than 250 therapists and activists have signed an online petition asking the D.C.-based American Psychological Association to condemn the shock therapy and other “aversive” treatments used on autistic and other disabled patients at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Mass.
The petition, addressed to APA Assistant Executive Director Lynn F. Bufka, reminds the 148,000-member association that it has already blasted the use of “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” on “enemy combatants” held by the U.S.
“We are advocating for people with autism, development differences and mental health challenges,” the petition states, “urgently entreating that they may be given the same respect with regard to human rights as alleged ‘Enemy Combatants’ or any other human beings.”
Bufka didn’t respond to numerous requests for comment.
The petition was started by Derrick Jeffries, a sufferer from Asperger’s Syndrome, and University of Delaware professor Nancy Weiss. It has gained online signatures from Australia to the United Kingdom to Silver Spring.
A condemnation from the APA would be a major blow to Rotenberg, the only school in the U.S. authorized to use “aversive” therapy. Once a practice is frowned upon by the APA, it becomes difficult for therapists to justify its use in courts.
Rotenberg is home to at least nine D.C. students and has been the subject of dozens of complaints for several years because of its harsh methods. It charges the District more than $227,000 per child per year for its services.
Rotenberg spokesman Ernest Corrigan couldn’t be reached for comment.
