The first book to be written on the Judge Rotenberg Center and their use of painful interventions to control the behavior of children and adults with disabilities.
For more than forty years, professionals in the field of disability studies have engaged in debates over the use of aversive interventions (such as electric shock) like the ones used at the Judge Rotenberg Center. Advocates and lawyers have filed complaints and lawsuits to both use them and ban them, scientists have written hundreds of articles for and against them, and people with disabilities have lost their lives and, some would say, lived their lives because of them. There are families who believe deeply in the need to use aversives to control their children’s behavior. There are others who believe the techniques used are torture. All of these families have children who have been excluded from numerous educational and treatment programs because of their behaviors. For most of the families, placement at the Judge Rotenberg Center is the last resort.
This book is a historical case study of the Judge Rotenberg Center, named after the judge who ruled in favor of keeping its doors open to use aversive interventions. It chronicles and analyzes the events and people involved for over forty years that contributed to the inability of the state of Massachusetts to stop the use of electric shock, and other severe forms of punishment on children and adults with disabilities. It is a long story, sad and tragic, complex, filled with intrigue and questions about society and its ability to protect and support its most vulnerable citizens.
This important book brings to light the shameful history of torturous methods used on individuals with developmental disabilities. If animals or prisoners of war had been subjected to this torture, the perpetrators would have been charged with felony cruelty to animals or war crimes. I am hopeful that by exposing what has occurred at the Judge Rotenberg Center, this work will finally bring this sad chapter of our history to an end.
Temple Grandin
This important book brings to light the shameful history of torturous methods used on individuals with developmental disabilities. If animals or prisoners of war had been subjected to this torture, the perpetrators would have been charged with felony cruelty to animals or war crimes. I am hopeful that by exposing what has occurred at the Judge Rotenberg Center, this work will finally bring this sad chapter of our history to an end.
If anyone doubts that systematic abuse is rife in closed institutional settings, Pain and Shock in America puts those doubts to rest. A detailed chronicle of torture in the name of ‘treatment’, it tells a real-life horror story that is all too familiar in much of the world including the United States.
This book is a must read. We can’t understand the modern disability rights movement unless we understand the tragic abuse and horrors of the very recent past. Nisbet takes us there, in meticulous and carefully researched detail.
A wonderful book that is part scholarly social history, part page-turner whodunnit, and part a still evolving story of how we treat our most vulnerable fellow humans. To read it is to sharpen your thinking concerning fundamental issues of human rights.
Nisbet reports... surefootedly and fair-mindedly. The book... indexes the post-human society that is cornering us all.
A superb, concise, yet comprehensive volume that equips undergraduate students with the intellectual toolkit necessary to understand the key legal components that make up the US's First Amendment free-speech case law. Greenky masterfully leads readers through the material in an engaging, informative manner, using just enough discussion of complex legal doctrine… to educate without intimidating. A highly informative book perfect for students needing an entry point into the First Amendment's free-speech clause and history.
...an in-depth, riveting, and devastating account of violent treatments known as aversives, used at the Judge Rotenberg Center. Nisbet’s painstakingly detailed history insists that we must not look away - as too many have done - from these horrific stories.
Jan Nisbet Ph.D. is professor emeritus at the University of New Hampshire. Prior to retiring in 2020, she served for ten years as the Senior Vice Provost for Research. Before assuming that position, she was the founding Director of the Institute on Disability and a tenured Professor in the Department of Education at the University of New Hampshire. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1982. Dr. Nisbet has published extensively in the field of disabilities, served on several organizational, editorial and advisory boards, and has presented nationally and internationally. She has been principal investigator on many state and nationally funded projects related to children and adults with disabilities. She is the recipient of UNH’s Excellence in Research Award and the Alumni Association’s Award for Excellence in Public Service, and the Pettee Medal.
Nancy Weiss is a faculty member and the Director of the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities at the University of Delaware.
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