Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid - April 21 at 7Pm ET (Register for Zoom/Call-In Info)

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid - April 21 at 7Pm ET (Register for Zoom/Call-In Info) H-Sci-Med-Tech Disability Organizing in the Age of Covid-19: Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid - April 21 at 7pm ET (register for Zoom/call-in info) Discussion published by Lydia Brown on Tuesday, April 21, 2020 Type: Event Date: April 21, 2020 Location: United States Subject Fields: American History / Studies, Health and Health Care, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Human Rights, Public Health Georgetown University's Disability Studies Program invites you to attend a free and public virtual panel discussion Disability Organizing in the Age of Covid-19: Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid Tuesday 21 April 2020 at 7:00 P.M. (ET) (Please check the registration page for other times.) A Conversation with Jay Salazar, Dana Garza, and Shain Neumeier, moderated by Lydia X. Z. Brown In the years before the current covid-19 pandemic, hospitals across the United States quietly prepared medical rationing plans that would place people with disabilities and chronic illnesses at the bottom of the priorities list for care, resources, and equipment in the event of an overloaded hospital with limited supplies. Now, with medical rationing plans that disabled people losing the ventilators they use for everyday breathing if they seek care for covid-19, disabled advocates are once again sounding the alarm on new eugenics practices and proposals nationally. While businesses shutter, schools close, and gig workers hemorrhage money, sick and disabled people at the margins of the margins are on the front lines building mutual aid and collective care networks to fill the gaps, advocating fiercely to stop dangerous eugenic proposals, and creating resources for each other to survive. The panelists in this discussion will address the historical Citation: Lydia Brown. Disability Organizing in the Age of Covid-19: Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid - April 21 at 7pm ET (register for Zoom/call-in info). H-Sci-Med-Tech. 04-21-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/9782/discussions/6125578/disability-organizing-age-covid-19-medical-rationing-eugenics-and Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Sci-Med-Tech context for today's crass manifestations of ableism, and what disabled advocates are fighting for now. We are providing ASL interpretation and CART captioning, with options for video and phone-only participation, and captioning in a separate window. You must RSVP before Sunday 19 April 2020 to receive a webinar link. Please contact [email protected] with any questions. Speaker Bios Jay Salazar, a Latinx trans man, migrated to Oakland with family at age of 7. Jay grew up undocumented and realized that life was going to be much harder for him in 2003. In 2014 Jay was able to adjust his status and was able to get a work permit, life changed, for the first time, he was able to apply to any job and do things that felt fulfilling. After two years he had to stop working due to chronic pain, shortly after he was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness. During the last two years, Jay has had to learn a new normal and has gone back to school for community health work and has been working with Disability Justice Culture Club. Most recently, Jay has been working with as one of the many leaders in the doing mutual aid work with a network of over 300 volunteers and different community partners in the bay area helping provide mutual aid to the people most at risk during this pandemic. Dana Garza is a queer, disabled, femme of color, healer and activist of mixed Tejanx and Scottish ascent. She comes from a grassroots and working class background and is informed by her lived experiences at the intersections of class, race, ability, gender and sexuality. She is a member of the collective group Disability Justice Culture Club. Shain Neumeier is a lawyer, activist, and community organizer, as well as an out and proud member of the disabled, trans, queer, and asexual communities. Their passion on the issue of ending abuse and neglect of youth with disabilities in schools and treatment facilities stems from their own experiences with involuntary medical treatment and bullying, and led them to go to law school. They have pursued their goal of using legal advocacy to address these problems ever since. Their work appears in Autistic Activism and the Neurodiversity Movement: Stories from the Frontlines, Resistance and Hope: Crip Wisdom for the People, Rewire News, Citation: Lydia Brown. Disability Organizing in the Age of Covid-19: Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid - April 21 at 7pm ET (register for Zoom/call-in info). H-Sci-Med-Tech. 04-21-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/9782/discussions/6125578/disability-organizing-age-covid-19-medical-rationing-eugenics-and Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2 H-Sci-Med-Tech and Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking. When not working, they're probably crafting, playing Dungeons & Dragons, listening to history podcasts, or watching Netflix with their partner and three feline roommates. Lydia X. Z. Brown is a disabled advocate and attorney. They are Institute Associate for Disability Rights and Algorithmic Fairness at Georgetown Law's Institute for Tech Law and Policy, and adjunct lecturer in the Department of English for the Disability Studies Program. [Photo: White flowers against a black background, and light pink overlay with stylized text. Text says: Disability Organizing in the Age of Covid-19: Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid. Tuesday 21 April 2020 at 7:00 PM (ET). Jay Salazar, Dana Garza, Shain Neumeier. Three photos appear in the middle. The left is Jay, a Latinx trans man, smiling in front of a fern. The middle is Dana, a Tejanx/Scottish femme with bangs and long hair smiling up at the camera, wearing a leopard print shirt. The right is Shain, a white person with craniofacial disabilities, smiling against a plain background.] Citation: Lydia Brown. Disability Organizing in the Age of Covid-19: Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid - April 21 at 7pm ET (register for Zoom/call-in info). H-Sci-Med-Tech. 04-21-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/9782/discussions/6125578/disability-organizing-age-covid-19-medical-rationing-eugenics-and Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.
Recommended publications
  • Layersquality of Life and Autism
    Exploring Diagnosis: Autism and Neurodiversity Steven Kapp Rhianna White 1 Preview of lecture Introduction to disability, neurodiversity movements Stimming study Labelling study Book on autistic community, neurodiversity movement 2 Sociology of (Jutel & Nettleton, diagnosis 2011) Diagnosis Diagnosis Stimming Neurodiversity as as Process study book Category Consequences of Diagnosis Labelling study 3 Disability rights movement Social contribution to/construction of disability Civil rights model – not medical model Self-advocacy: “Nothing About Us Without Us” Focus on self-determination and quality of life: building independence, inclusion, productivity through rights and support For respect, against personal tragedy narrative 4 Neurodiversity movement Autism: complex, pervasive; part of personality Often identity-first, non-medicalized language Autism: natural, on spectrum of human diversity Focus on rights, access, opportunities -> quality of life For acceptance; against prevention and normalization 5 Utility of autism, neurodiversity Little knowledge about what “works” for whom and why Common knowledge that no intervention works for all Little known for whom, how autism diagnoses tend to help Parental acceptance of child’s autism helps relationship (Kapp et al., 2018) Awareness of neurodiversity movement associated with views aligned with it (Kapp et al., 2013) Support for normalization associated with more stigma toward autistic people (Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2017) 6 Stimming (Jutel & Nettleton, study 2011) Diagnosis
    [Show full text]
  • L Brown Presentation
    Health Equity Learning Series Beyond Service Provision and Disparate Outcomes: Disability Justice Informing Communities of Practice HEALTH EQUITY LEARNING SERIES 2016-17 GRANTEES • Aurora Mental Health Center • Northwest Colorado Health • Bright Futures • Poudre Valley Health System • Central Colorado Area Health Education Foundation (Vida Sana) Center • Pueblo Triple Aim Corporation • Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition • Rural Communities Resource Center • Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy • Southeast Mental Health Services and Research Organization • The Civic Canopy • Cultivando • The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and • Eagle County Health and Human Transgender Community Center of Services Colorado • El Centro AMISTAD • Tri-County Health Network • El Paso County Public Health • Warm Cookies of the Revolution • Hispanic Affairs Project • Western Colorado Area Health Education Center HEALTH EQUITY LEARNING SERIES Lydia X. Z. Brown (they/them) • Activist, writer and speaker • Past President, TASH New England • Chairperson, Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council • Board member, Autism Women’s Network ACCESS NOTE Please use this space as you need or prefer. Sit in chairs or on the floor, pace, lie on the floor, rock, flap, spin, move around, step in and out of the room. CONTENT/TW I will talk about trauma, abuse, violence, and murder of disabled people, as well as forced treatment and institutions, and other acts of violence, including sexual violence. Please feel free to step out of the room at any time if you need to. BEYOND SERVICE
    [Show full text]
  • Inhumane Beyond All Reason the Torture of Autistics and Other People with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center Shain Neumeier, J.D
    Inhumane Beyond All Reason The Torture of Autistics and Other People with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center Shain Neumeier, J.D. They call what the Judge Rotenberg Center does to people with disabilities treatment. That’s why it still happens. For over forty years, JRC has used painful methods of controlling the behavior of Autistic people, people with intellectual disabilities, and people with mental illnesses. This includes long-term mechanical restraint to a four-point board, food and sensory deprivation, social isolation, and, most infamously, electric shock. Labeling these methods as aversive behavioral modification, and even aversive therapy, JRC has not only been allowed to use them on their students – both children and adults – but has in fact received the approval of parents, state agencies and courts in doing so. JRC follows what its own administration has called a “radical Skinnerian” behavioral approach, relying on the principles of operant behavioral conditioning – namely, arranging an individual’s environment to provide rewards for appropriate or desired behavior and punishment for unacceptable or unwanted behavior. JRC’s founder, Matthew Israel, became fascinated with these principles after taking a class with B.F. Skinner, a pioneer in the field of operant conditioning, and reading his book, a novel called Walden Two, portraying a utopian society that was based on the ideas of behavioral psychology while he was a student at Harvard University. He in fact decided that it was his life’s mission to create such a utopian community, and, to this end, worked under B.F. Skinner during the course of his studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Shain Neumeier 9 May 2012 1 the USE of RESTRAINT, SECLUSION
    Shain Neumeier 9 May 2012 THE USE OF RESTRAINT, SECLUSION AND AVERSIVES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION SETTINGS I. Introduction Over the last several decades, children with disabilities have increasingly been afforded access to educational opportunities, as well as to the services and supports needed to make this access meaningful.1 In order to accomplish this, the law has guaranteed them the right to a free and appropriate public education, as well as to protection against discrimination in public and private settings.2 Despite these advances, they still remain subject to forms of discipline which nondisabled children are not.3 Aversive, or punitive, behavioral interventions (aversives), restraint and seclusion are used in private and public special educational settings in ways that would likely never be contemplated for use on children in regular education, both as emergency measures and as behavioral modification as part of education or treatment.4 Despite the intrusive and risky nature of these procedures, and the extent to which they are used, their use has gone unheard of by the public and unaddressed by the law to a large extent.5 This paper will examine the existing law on the use of aversives on children with disabilities and others placed in public and private special or alternative education settings. Part II will discuss aversives, how they are used and the controversy over this use in the educational, treatment and disability rights advocacy communities. Part III will discuss existing statutes and regulations on the subject, and the lack thereof, on both the state and federal level, as well as proposed legislation that would afford children further protection against the misuse of aversives.
    [Show full text]
  • Autistic Hoya's Brief Abled Privilege Checklist
    (Updated March 2016) | www.autistichoya.com | www.autistichoya.net | 1 AUTISTIC HOYA’S BRIEF ABLED PRIVILEGE CHECKLIST With thanks to other lists and suggestions from Bev Harp, Phyllis May-Machunda, Cara Liebowitz, Astrid's Journal, Alison Aubrecht, Erin Furda, and Shain Neumeier. This list is meant to serve as an educational tool to help people with and without disabilities become more aware of everyday interactions or observances that are impacted by ableism. Ableism is an entire way of thinking and doing that harms disabled people by treating some types of bodies and minds as valuable, worthy, and desirable, and others as undesirable and unworthy. Ableism is embedded in legal, social, and political institutions, as well as in commonly accepted and unquestioned attitudes and assumptions. Like all checklists about social privilege, this checklist is limited by nature. Even if you don’t have a disability, you might not experience some forms of privilege described on this list because of another identity or experience you have. Likewise, even if you do have a disability, you might still experience some forms of privilege described on this list because you don’t have another type of disability. This checklist is not meant to be exhaustive or complete, but rather to give a good and meaningful overview of a variety of disability experiences marked by ableism. In particular, this checklist is meant to help non-disabled people gain more critical consciousness of how ableism systematically advantages and values certain types of bodies and minds in the most ordinary ways, at the expense of others. This checklist can be used as a private, individual exercise; a group exercise during a workshop or training about disability or ableism (especially as part of diversity, inclusion, or social justice programming); or a resource for learning in general.
    [Show full text]
  • U.S. Senators: Vote YES on the Disability Treaty! © Nicolas Früh/Handicap International November 2013 Dear Senator
    U.S. Senators: Vote YES on the Disability Treaty! © Nicolas Früh/Handicap International November 2013 Dear Senator, The United States of America has always been a leader of the rights of people with disabilities. Our country created the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), ensuring the rights of 57.8 million Americans with disabilities, including 5.5 million veterans. The ADA inspired the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) treaty. The CRPD ensures that the basic rights we enjoy, such as the right to work and be healthy, are extended to all people with disabilities. Last December, America’s leadership diminished when the Senate failed to ratify the CRPD by 5 votes. In the pages that follow, you will find the names of 67,050 Americans who want you to vote Yes on the CRPD. Their support is matched by more than 800 U.S. organizations, including disability, civil rights, veterans’ and faith-based organizations. These Americans know the truth: • Ratification furthers U.S. leadership in upholding, championing and protecting the rights of children and adults with disabilities • Ratification benefits all citizens working, studying, or traveling overseas • Ratification creates the opportunity for American businesses and innovations to reach international markets • Ratification does not require changes to any U.S. laws • Ratification does not jeopardize U.S. sovereignty The Senate has an opportunity that doesn’t come along often in Washington—a second chance to do the right thing and to ratify the CRPD. We urge you and your fellow Senators to support the disability treaty with a Yes vote when it comes to the floor.We must show the world that U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Sexuality, Reproduction, and Disability in Post-Nazi Europe
    H-Diplo H-Diplo Roundtable XX-47 on Unlearning Eugenics: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Disability in Post-Nazi Europe Discussion published by George Fujii on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 H-Diplo Roundtable Review Volume XX, No. 47 30 July 2019 Roundtable Editors: Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Diane Labrosse Roundtable and Web Production Editor: George Fujii Dagmar Herzog. Unlearning Eugenics: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Disability in Post-Nazi Europe. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2018. ISBN: 9780299319205 (cloth, $39.95). URL: https://hdipo.org/to/RT20-47 Contents Introduction by Lotte Houwink ten Cate, Columbia University. 2 Review by Susanne M. Klausen, Carleton University. 6 Review by Danilyn Rutherford, The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.. 11 Review by Johanna Schoen, Rutgers University. 15 Review by Katherine Sorrels, University of Cincinnati 18 Review by Moira Weigel, Harvard University. 22 Author’s Response by Dagmar Herzog, Graduate Center, City University of New York. 26 © 2019 The Authors. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Introduction by Lotte Houwink ten Cate, Columbia University According to the historian Dagmar Herzog, “One of the most valuable effects of studying the history of sexuality is the way it unhinges conventional expectations about so many matters.”[1] To talk about sex is always also to talk about much else. Herzog brought this to the fore in her landmark Sex After Fascism: Memory and Morality in Twentieth-Century Germany (2005) which examined the distorted memory of Nazism as sexually repressive, and which reset the clocks of the rigidly periodized German twentieth century.[2] Herzog’s most recent book engages the “geopoliticization” of sexuality, “as high politics and diplomacy are imbricated with matters of sex as never before and we find ourselves, globally, in a wider backlash against and ambivalence about sexual freedoms” (8).
    [Show full text]
  • A New View of Autism: 5 Principles of Inclusive Practice & Design Further
    A New View of Autism: 5 Principles of Inclusive Practice & Design LIFT 2020, Brandon, Manitoba Patty Douglas [email protected] Raya Shields Further Reading and Resources List Documentaries: Deej https://www.deejmovie.com/ Unspoken https://www.unspokendoc.com/ Best and Most Beautiful Things http://www.bestandmostbeautifulthings.com/ Wretches and Jabberers https://www.wretchesandjabberers.org/ The Aspects of Talking and How I am Like Moses (Adam’s Bar Mitzvah):https://vimeo.com/254603007 S/Pace by Adam Wolfond and Estee Klar: https://vimeo.com/user14085709 Re•Storying Autism in Education www.restoryingautism.com TV/Films: Pablo (on Netflix featuring an all autistic voice acting cast) Loop (Pixar Short film on Disney+) YouTube: Ask an Autistic (Neurowonderful) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoYMFsyj_k1ApNj_QUkNgK C1R5F9bVHs Rebranding Autism by Jennifer Msumba 1 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-eg4c5CKn6p6GVQ2cwf-85Uflm9EvKIZ Agony Autie https://www.youtube.com/c/AgonyAutie/videos Podcasts: Anne Borden King’s (co-founder of A4A) series Noncomplianthttps://noncompliantpodcast.com/ Adam Wolfond (nonspeaking autistic teenager) Inter-veiws: A Typing Only Podcast Party https://soundcloud.com/awolfond For Practitioners: The Power of Presuming Competence with Non-Speaking AAC Users -Podcast featuring an OT and Autistic activist and author Ido Kedar:https://www.learnplaythrive.com/podcast/episode/1d76f74c/the-power-of-presuming- competence-with-non-speaking-aac-user-ido-kedar Foundations for Divergent Minds: https://www.divergentminds.org/
    [Show full text]
  • Food and Drug Administration 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm
    June 20, 2016 Leslie Kux Associate Commissioner for Policy Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305) Food and Drug Administration 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061 Rockville, MD 20852 Re: Docket Number FDA-2016-N-1111, Proposal to Ban Electrical Stimulation Devices Used to Treat Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior Dear Food and Drug Administration, The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) submits the following comments on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Proposed Rule, “Banned Devices; Proposal to Ban Electrical Stimulation Devices Used to Treat Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior.”1 ASAN, a 501(c) (3), non-profit organization, is the nation’s leading self-advocacy organization by and for autistic people ourselves. Our mission is to advance the social and civil rights of Autistic people and other individuals with disabilities.2 ASAN strongly supports FDA’s proposed ban on the current and future use of electric skin shock devices (referred to in the Proposed Rule as “Electrical Stimulation Devices” (ESDs), particularly as a form of “treatment” for self-injurious behaviors (SIB) and aggressive behaviors (AB) in people with disabilities.3 ASAN has long maintained strong opposition to the use of electric skin shock.4 We agree with the FDA’s findings that electric skin shock devices are not only ineffective at best at reducing SIBs and ABs, but also pose an 1 Banned Devices; Proposed Rule to Ban Electrical Stimulation Devices Used to Treat Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior, 81 Fed. Reg. 24385, 24385-418 (proposed Apr. 25, 2016) (To be codified at 21 C.F.R. pts. 882, 895).
    [Show full text]
  • Neurodiversity
    Embracing Neurodiversity: Advocacy and Allyship Jessica Leza, MA, MT-BC Learning Objectives • Explore the concepts and culture of the neurodiversity movement that can impact a client’s therapeutic needs (CBMT Board Certification Domain I.D.9). • Identify cultural factors of the neurodiversity movement that can impact components of therapy such as rapport, motivation to participate in treatment, and appropriate goals and objectives (CBMT Board Certification Domain I.B.4.d). Overview 1. What is neurodiversity? Terminology 2. Values & culture of the neurodiversity movement 3. Autistic Experiences of Therapy 4. Implications for clinical practice in MT 5. Additional resources PowerPoint available at: http://www.JessicaLeza.com What is Neurodiversity? Terminology Neurodiversity (ND) - the phenomena of naturally-occurring, neurological diversity; the differences between all people Diversity does not only apply to race, sexuality, religion, et. al. Diversity also refers to disability & neurology. Term originally developed within autism community, independently coined by Judy Singer & Kassiane Asasumasu Read more: #Neurodiversity “Neurodiversity, some basic terms and definitions” by Nick Walker https://neurocosmopolitanism.com/neurodiversity-some-basic-terms-definitions/ “The essence of beauty is unity in variety.” – Felix Mendelssohn What is Neurodiversity? The Neurodiversity Movement Operates according to the Neurodiversity Paradigm – “the understanding of neurodiversity as a natural form of human diversity, subject to the same societal dynamics as other forms of diversity.” (Nick Walker, in “Throw Away the Master’s Tools”, in Loud Hands) •A disability rights movement, influenced by social model of disability •Fights for support & accommodations for diverse neurologies •Powered by self-advocacy (doesn’t speak for everybody, but stands up for the right for everyone to speak up for themselves) •Encourages a strengths-based perspective •Values the idea that human society needs/benefits from all types of brains.
    [Show full text]
  • Disability Organizing in the Age of Covid-19: Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid - April 21 at 7Pm ET (Register for Zoom/Call-In Info)
    H-Disability Disability Organizing in the Age of Covid-19: Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid - April 21 at 7pm ET (register for Zoom/call-in info) Discussion published by Lydia Brown on Monday, April 13, 2020 Georgetown University's Disability Studies Program invites you to attend a free and public virtual panel discussion Disability Organizing in the Age of Covid-19: Medical Rationing, Eugenics, and the Precarity of Mutual Aid Tuesday 21 April 2020 at 7:00 P.M. (ET) (Please check the registration page for other times.) A Conversation with Jay Salazar, Dana Garza, and Shain Neumeier, moderated by Lydia X. Z. Brown In the years before the current covid-19 pandemic, hospitals across the United States quietly prepared medical rationing plans that would place people with disabilities and chronic illnesses at the bottom of the priorities list for care, resources, and equipment in the event of an overloaded hospital with limited supplies. Now, with medical rationing plans that disabled people losing the ventilators they use for everyday breathing if they seek care for covid-19, disabled advocates are once again sounding the alarm on new eugenics practices and proposals nationally. While businesses shutter, schools close, and gig workers hemorrhage money, sick and disabled people at the margins of the margins are on the front lines building mutual aid and collective care networks to fill the gaps, advocating fiercely to stop dangerous eugenic proposals, and creating resources for each other to survive. The panelists in this discussion will address the historical context for today's crass manifestations of ableism, and what disabled advocates are fighting for now.
    [Show full text]
  • Aversive Technologies, Intellectual Disability, and ''Bare Life'
    Article Punishment & Society 2017, Vol. 19(3) 348–365 Unexpected spaces of ! The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav confinement: Aversive DOI: 10.1177/1462474517705147 technologies, intellectual journals.sagepub.com/home/pun disability, and ‘‘bare life’’ DL Adams University of Toledo, USA Nirmala Erevelles The University of Alabama, USA Abstract Giorgio Agamben describes the ‘‘camp’’ as the ‘‘zone of indistinction between law and violence’’ where bodies located in exceptional spaces are stripped of citizenship rights and embody ‘‘bare life.’’ We deploy Agamben’s analysis to the context of the everyday violence of aversive technologies meted out against students living at the dangerous intersections of race, class, gender, and disability and located in unexpected spaces of confinement such as schools, developmental centers, and family homes. We argue here that the logic of the ‘‘state of exception’’ applies to disabled children and adults where acts of violence enacted via disciplinary practices are justified as being outside the realm of the legal and subject to sovereign power. The locus of our study is the Judge Rothenberg Center that over the past 40 years has utilized behavioral techniques that have been investigated as abusive and only very recently has been held accountable for these infractions. We examine the discourses used to justify these forms of inhumane punishment as well as the discourses that oppose them to foreground the real material implications of ‘‘how we understand the role of systems and institutions of punishment’’ in unexpected spaces of confinement of children/adults with intellectual disabilities. Keywords autism, aversive technologies, disability studies, Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer, intellec- tual disability, Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, mad studies Corresponding author: Nirmala Erevelles, Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Technology Studies, The University of Alabama, 315 A Graves Hall, Box 870302, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.
    [Show full text]