I used to work at a school for children and adults with severe disabilities, a school where painful electric shocks are considered treatment. That experience haunts me every day of my life. Now I’m taking action to make sure the FDA bans the use of electric shock on people with disabilities.

In 2002, an autistic student named Andre McCollins at the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), the school where I worked, was strapped down and given electric shocks for hours, leaving him with burns and permanent brain damage. All because Andre refused to take off his jacket.

When I first started working at the JRC, I thought I was helping these severely disabled people, but it quickly became clear that we were torturing them. I was told that the machines, which deliver shocks stronger than a stun gun, were FDA approved. I was lied to. Now I’m doing something about it.

Right now the FDA is considering action that would ban the use of the devices used by the JRC. Will you sign my petition asking the FDA to ban the use of electric shocks on people with disabilities?

The devices used at the JRC are not electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). These are machines that students wear at all times and deliver shocks administered by JRC whenever they feel a student has done something wrong. I had to shock students for behaviors like closing their eyes or tearing a paper cup. It made me sick.

The JRC has a long documented history of abuse. The United Nations has investigated the school and called their practices “torture.” The founder of the JRC, Dr. Matthew Israel, resigned after being charged with misleading a grand jury by destroying video footage of students being shocked.

It’s hard to believe this could be happening in the United States. Treating animals like this would be illegal, but we don’t have the same protections for the most vulnerable people in our society.

The FDA is holding a hearing next week where I plan to bring your signatures to show the massive amount of support for banning the JRC’s use of these machines. The FDA has taken action in response to Change.org petitions before. I know we can convince them to protect people with disabilities from electric shocks that amount to torture.

Please click here to sign my petition calling on the FDA to ban the use of electric shock machines used on people with disabilities.

Thank you,

Gregory Miller
Berry Creek, CA

P.S. Video of Andre McCollins’ horrific ordeal is on my petition. It took 10 years to get it released to the public. It’s hard to watch, but it shows just how painful these machines are.

By CAP Action War Room

A Major Anti-Keystone Protest, And Other Important Climate Stories

This year’s Earth Day coincides with the start of a week-long protest against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that promise a “bold and creative” instance of civil disobedience. The Cowboy and Indian Alliance (CIA), a group of ranchers, farmers and indigenous leaders from along the pipeline route, will ride into Washington, DC and host an encampment on the National Mall, culminating Saturday in a 5,000-person ceremonial walk by the Capitol. The protest is called “Reject and Protect.”

Just last week, the State Department announced that it is delaying its decision on whether to construct the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. And while many pipeline supporters claim there are good reasons to think it was a politically motivated choice, according to Climate Progress, there are also “actual complications standing in the way of the pipeline’s imminent approval or rejection.”

In honor of Earth Day, here are some other top climate stories:

• Let’s Rename Earth Day. Affection for our planet is misdirected and unrequited. We need to focus on saving ourselves.
• The New Abolitionism. Averting planetary disaster will mean forcing fossil fuel companies to give up at least $10 trillion in wealth, writes Chris Hayes.
• Because Of Tar Sands, Energy Is Now Canada’s Biggest Greenhouse Gas Source. The Canadian tar sands are the key ingredient for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Canada is unlikely to achieve its 2020 climate pollution reduction goal, while the U.S. is on track to meet the same reduction target.
• Two Degrees: How The World Failed On Climate Change. By 2009, the world agreed that it shouldn’t let average global temperatures rise more than 2°C above those before the dawn of industrialization. Now, that goal looks increasingly delusional.
• Not a Single Republican Has Mentioned Earth Day in Congress Since 2010. Two reporters mine the Congressional Record for partisanship on environmental matters.
• Four Years After The BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, The Gulf Of Mexico Is Still Suffering. The spill has led to increased erosion off the Louisiana coast and has destroyed existing habitats for nesting birds.
• Keystone Pipeline May Be Big, But This Is Bigger. The Keystone pipeline would significantly boost climate pollution. But soon-to-be-proposed E.P.A. rules to limit climate pollution from power plants and heavy trucks, and treaty talks to get other nations to do the same, also have the potential to determine President Obama’s environmental legacy.