Electric shock devices are being used on children and adults with autism and other disabilities, and no one is putting a stop to it, not even the FDA, the agency responsible for regulating medical devices, which just missed its own end-of-May deadline to finalize a proposed ban.
The devices are exactly what they sound like. Electrodes are often taped to a person’s body and deliver painful electric shocks as punishment when certain behaviors occur. According to advocates, people have been shocked for things such as slouching, wetting the bed, getting out of their seats, or failure to remove a coat when asked.
Critics, such as the UN, have compared the practice to torture, and some say it’s similar to tactics used during interrogations.
How can this be happening in America in 2026 when even electric shock collars for dogs have been banned in many parts of the world?
In 2020, the FDA admitted that “these devices present an unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury” and ordered them banned.
The ban was overturned by a federal appeals court at the request of the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), a Massachusetts school that serves children and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The JRC, the only facility currently using shock treatment, has been filmed strapping students to four-point restraint boards while administering repeated painful electric shocks. In one case, a student was shocked 77 times in just three hours.
And this is the institution the court sided with?
This court ruling led to a stay that has allowed the devices to remain in use. The FDA launched another attempt to ban them in 2024, but nothing has changed.
The Autistic Advocacy has written several letters to the FDA over the years. More recently, in 2024, another plea was made, with a letter that read:
“It has now been eight years since the FDA released its first proposal to ban these devices and ten years since a panel of experts recommended that they be banned. Over the decade that has passed since, people with disabilities have continued to suffer from painful and dangerous electric shocks. We urge you to take action now to end this abuse.”
The people affected by this are some of society’s most vulnerable individuals, who don’t have a say in the matter.
So it’s hard to believe no one has the ability to step up to put a stop to this, especially when there’s no shortage of powerful institutions that could act.
Also, if this is legal, how long until they use it on the rest of us???
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