ASAN welcomes removal of harmful addition to budget bill

ASAN welcomes the removal of Section 722 from the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. In June, several members of Congress introduced an amendment to the bill that would prevent the FDA from banning electroshock devices for behavior modification, such as those used at the Judge Rotenberg Center. Section 722 provides that the FDA cannot ban a device used pursuant to a court order. All electroshock devices used at the Judge Rotenberg Center are used pursuant to a court order.

If passed, this amendment would remove the FDA’s ability to move forward with the proposed rule that ASAN and many grassroots advocates have commented in support of. Because of your powerful activism, this amendment did not make it into the final bill, and the FDA still has the ability to #StopTheShock.

This was only possible because of the hard work of our grassroots members. You called, emailed, and shared on social media to make your voices heard. Our community members have been fighting to end the use of shock devices at JRC for over a decade, and we will not be ignored. Your calls, along with the hundreds of public comments sent in support of the proposed FDA rule, have brought us that much closer to ending this cruel practice once and for all.

We also thank the many members of the House Appropriations Committee who supported the removal of Section 722. During last night’s bill review, House Speaker Rosa DeLauro and Representatives Chellie Pingree and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz used their opening remarks to highlight the harm this amendment could cause and the urgent need to remove it. House Speaker Sanford Bishop spoke in her remarks about our community’s work to educate members of the Committee on this issue. We are thrilled that the House Appropriations Committee has listened to our community on this urgent issue and taken action to protect people with disabilities from torture.

We are grateful that this amendment is not included in the current version of the bill, but the fight is not over yetThe full House and Senate must still vote on this bill. Thanks to your efforts, we have built strong bipartisan opposition to Section 722. We will continue to work with Congress to ensure that this amendment does not make it into the final bill. In the meantime, the FDA must continue to do its part with the authority our community has fought for. ASAN urges the FDA to quickly publish the final version of the proposed rule, “Prohibited Devices; Proposed Ban on Electrical Stimulation Devices for Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior.”

Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement as they relate to autism. ASAN believes that the goal of autism advocacy should be a world in which autistic people enjoy equal access, rights, and opportunities. We work to empower autistic people everywhere to take control of their own lives and the future of our shared community, and we strive to organize the autism community to ensure that our voices are heard in the national conversation about us. Nothing about us, without us!