About

The JRC is an institution depicted as a “school” for disabled people, and it subjects its residents to painful electric shocks as a part of “aversive therapy”. ADAPT organizers view the JRC as a clear violation of the ADA and Olmstead decision, and, as a result, have demanded that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director Dr. Scott Gottlieb order its closing and ban the devices that administer the shocks, called graduated electronic decelerators (GEDs), which have been denounced by the UN as torture devices. ADAPT staged a 12-day “Camp ADAPT Stop the Torture” occupation of the space outside of Director Gottlieb’s apartment from March 9-March 20, 2018. During this period, rallies, chants, signage, and a theatrical performance which compared the JRC to a grotesque Oz from Wizard of Oz. Additionally, on March 20, 12 protesters occupied the FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, MD, and refused to leave the building until they were arrested. However, when no police came, they moved out into the road in front of the headquarters, and were then arrested for blocking traffic. A social media campaign with the hashtags #StopTheShock and #StopTheTorture was also launched on Twitter, with ADAPT members mentioning President Trump and imploring him to demand that Gottlieb outlaw GEDs. 

PSA made by ADAPT detailing the treatment of disabled people at the Judge Rotenburg Center.
ADAPTer talking to John Bardis, the US Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, in May 2017.

 

Goals
  • The closing of the Judge Rotenburg Center (JRC).
  • The outlawing of graduated electronic decelerators (GEDs) as "treatment" for mental disabilities like autism by the FDA
#StopTheShock, #StopTheTorture