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Survivors and clinicians press legislature to ban aversive therapies; opponents warn licensing is insufficient

Joint Committee on Children and Families and Persons with Disabilities · November 18, 2025
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Summary

Hundreds of pages of testimony and multiple survivors described painful electric shocks and other aversive practices at the Judge Rotenberg Center, urging passage of H245 to ban aversives; opponents warned licensure proposals (H240) would merely formalize harmful practices.

An extended panel of survivors, clinicians, disability‑rights advocates and family members told the committee that painful aversive procedures — including electric skin shocks used at the Judge Rotenberg Center — constitute abuse and should be prohibited by statute.

Survivors gave detailed first‑hand accounts. Jen Masumba, who testified she spent seven years at the Judge Rotenberg…

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