The graduated electronic decelerator (GED) is a device that delivers a powerful and painful shock to wearers. The GED has been condemned by the United Nations as a weapon of torture against particularly vulnerable populations. The severely painful device is primarily used at the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) on autistic individuals who behave in ways that are deemed inappropriate by staff at the center. Behaviors that the JRC has used GED shock to discipline include but are not limited to: hand-flapping, standing, making noise, and screaming in pain from the administered shock. The GED has been known to burn skin and is traumatic for individuals exposed to the device.

Last year, the FDA successfully implemented regulations that banned the use of the GED on individuals with disabilities with the support of over 300,000 caring individuals. However, the JRC successfully lifted the ban in a lawsuit against the FDA. The unfortunate success of the lawsuit occurred because the FDA solely banned the use of the GED for behavior modification purposes. The court ruled that the FDA did not have authority to implement the regulation because the FDA did not completely ban the device overall.

By signing this petition, you can advocate for a total ban of the manufacture, distribution, and use of the GED. Your support is necessary to end this human rights tragedy.

IMPORTANT ADD:
One of the hardest parts of being autistic is having minimal institutional support to organize structured change. As such, I want to further encourage the spread of the original petition from ASAN that got over 300k signatures. Additionally, I will be compiling links to other related petitions below to keep them all together.

The link to the monumental 300k+ petition can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/fda-ban-torture-of-people-with-disabilities-and-stoptheshock?recruiter=20771059&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial&recruited_by_id=df7b48b0-f0aa-012f-d15c-4040d2fbfbbf

Related Petitions

1. Close JRC: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/closejudgerotenbergcenter
2. Re-circulated device ban petition: https://www.change.org/p/ban-shock-devices-used-on-special-needs-people
3. https://www.change.org/p/massachusetts-state-house-close-down-judge-rotenberg-center-for-human-rights-violations
4. https://www.change.org/p/massachusetts-state-attorney-general-mass-law-115-prohibits-pain-for-non-violent-behaviors-but-jrc-does-it-anyway-e0f8ac8c-6285-446d-b243-e91374d48976
5. https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/closejudgerotenbergcenter/
6. https://www.change.org/p/judge-rotenberg-educational-centre-ban-electric-shock-therapy-on-disabled-students
7. https://www.change.org/p/alex-axar-secretary-of-hhs-stop-the-electric-shock-treatments-for-kids-with-disabilities-at-jrc
8. https://www.change.org/p/behavior-analysis-professionals-help-shouldn-t-hurt-behavior-analysis-professionals-against-the-jrc-and-behavior-decelerator-shock-punishment-devices
9. https://www.change.org/p/court-close-down-the-jrc-center
10.  (closed in favor of other petitions): https://www.change.org/p/dc-circuit-court-of-appeals-get-the-graduated-electronic-decelerator-re-banned