When I checked my inbox today, I had a notification from change.org about a Special Needs school in Massachusetts that basically electrocute its students.
I. Was. Livid. Reading that was bad enough. Watching this video, which school officials tried desperately to keep "sealed", revealed an unfathomable level of brutality. Staff on student. Bullying to the inth degree. Andre McCollin restrained, faced down, and electroshocked 31 times during the course of the day. This is a whole different level of bullying, actually. It's called torture. It's called criminal abuse. And, every pair of eyes who reads this can play a part in bringing it to a screeching halt. For the students, the special needs students!, being brutally abused by this staff, it can't end fast enough. Imagine your son or daughter, your neighbor's kid, or even a total stranger!, being subjected to being restrained and being zapped by electroshock devices that are stronger than police stun guns...for hours!! Is you blood boiling, yet? Good. Sign the petition. Share this blog post. Encourage OTHERS to share it.In 2002, a special needs student named Andre McCollins was allegedly strapped down and electrocuted for hours, leaving him with permanent brain damage, all because he refused to take off his jacket. The people torturing Andre were officials at his school. You can watch what happened on video.The video was shot at a Massachusetts school for special needs kids called the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC). Gregory Miller used to be a teacher there, and he says electrocuting kids as punishment is extremely common -- even for minor offenses like raising your hand to go to the bathroom."A non-verbal, nearly blind girl with cerebral palsy was shocked for attempts to hold a staff member's hand -- her attempts to communicate and to be loved," Gregory says.Gregory desperately wants to help the kids at the JRC --that's why he started a petition onChange.org demanding that the JRC stop using electroshock to punish kids. Click here to add your name.Gregory says the JRC's founder created electroshock devices which are even stronger than police stun guns to punish students for bad behavior. An official at the United Nations said that using these devices on children is considered torture.According to the Boston Globe, the JRC’s founder resigned after being charged with misleading a grand jury by destroying video footage of other students being shocked.Gregory believes that if thousands of people sign his petition, his former bosses will capitulate in the intense pressure generated by a national spotlight.Thanks for being a change-maker,
This taking ending bullying to a whole different level. We have the power, in numbers, to make this change. I've already signed. Your turn.