Pain and Shock in America: Politics, Advocacy, and the Controversial Treatment of People with Disabilities

Jan Nisbet

Oct 2021 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Margaret Strom

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16 hr 49 min

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About this audiobook

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. 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.

About the author

Jan Nisbet is professor emeritus at the University of New Hampshire, where 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 professor in the Department of Education.

Margaret Strom, a New York-trained actress, graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and holds both BA and MA degrees in theater, as well as an MS degree in educational administration and supervision. A lover of many genres of literature, she has narrated more than 500 books for the Library of Congress.

Nancy R. Weiss is a faculty member and the director of the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities at the University of Delaware. She has more than forty years of experience in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities.

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