Graduated Electronic Decelerator
The Graduated Electronic Decelerator is an aversive device formerly used on autistic and disabled students at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, until being banned by the Food and Drug Administration in 2020. It applied a powerful electric shock to the skin as a punishment for behaviors considered "undesirable." The device was created by Matthew Israel, the founder of JRC, and was condemned as torture by the United Nations. The use of the GED has been condemned by human rights groups and disability rights organizations. In 2020, it became the third device ever banned by the FDA in the history of the organization.
In 2012, a video surfaced of Andre McCollins, an autistic 18-year-old from New York, who was strapped face down on a four-point restraint board with a helmet on his head, and subjected to 31 of the GED's highest-level shocks over the course of seven hours. In the video, McCollins screams repeatedly for the shocks to stop.
