(Office Of Councilman Vincent Gentile)
February 27, 2013
NEW YORK, NEW YORK– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express] In light of recent developments, Councilman Vincent J. Gentile, a long-time advocate for New York’s most vulnerable, is calling on New York City Department of Education Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott to remove all New York children from the infamous Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts once and for all.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a letter to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services saying it would no longer allow federal Medicaid money to be used by anyone who lives at a facility that employs electric shock intervention, even if that person is not receiving the treatment themselves. Massachusetts has begun notifying the families of its students that they must either move to a new facility or unenroll from state benefits immediately.
“CMS made the right decision — no federal tax dollars should be going to an institution that uses these electric shock techniques on children. It’s time New York State and New York City to do the same — no city or state money should go to support an institution which subjects its students to these cruel and unusual forms of ‘behavior modification’. The Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts where 120 NYC developmentally disabled students currently attend, is in gross violation of the most fundamental standards of humane treatment of people with disabilities”, Councilman Gentile said.
“With CMS pulling its funding, we are one step closer to shutting down Rotenberg once and for all.”
Entire press statement:
Another Blow to the Judge Rotenberg Center (Autistic Hoya)
http://tinyurl.com/ide02271301
Related:
Judge Rotenberg Center — Facility Uses Electric Skin Shocks To Change Behavior (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/institutions/ma/jrc.htm
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