AUTHORS LEADING THE CHARGE

EXCERPTS FROM BOOKS AND ARTICLES

It May Be Non-Aversive, But Is It Non-Coersive?: The Ethics of Behavior Change by Nancy Weiss (Tash Newsletter, Nov. 99) "The late Herb Lovett is credited with coining the term positive approaches. In the spirit in which Lovett intended the term, it is important to recognize that every approach that does not rely on aversive procedures is not by default a positive approach. Positive approaches are only those which enhance a person's life - they are characterized by collaboration versus control and focus more on illumination (or understanding the meaning of the behavior from the individual's point of view) than on elimination (or reducing behaviors we perceive to be difficult or unacceptable)."

"Last May the Hartford Courant documented over 150 recent cases in which children or adults with disabilities died while being restrained. The case histories read like a catalogue of power struggles. One man's behavior escalated after he had asked to watch television and was told that TV was not allowed during the day, another man became upset after he was denied access to the bathroom, a woman died for the crime of not being willing to hand a family photograph over to staff. While these cases represent the worst imaginable result, power struggles such as these are commonplace. Institutional, community and educational service systems are often designed to restrict freedom of choice."

CYCLE OF CONTROL

Restrictive Treatment/Environment ---Need to Assert One's Self --- Additional Restrictions in Response to Apparent Need ---Escalation of Behavior in an Effort to Have Impact and Regain Control---Confirmation of Need for Aversive/restrictive Treatment ---Restrictive Treatment/Environment

"When power is taken from someone, it is a natural response for him/her to act to reassert control. When people respond in frustration, their behaviors are interpreted as signaling the need for even more restrictive environments. Rather than difficult behaviors being viewed as an indication to re-think the necessity for restricting people's right to self-determine, they are often viewed as signaling the need for even more stringent controls. Behaviors esclalate further in response, and the cycle goes unbroken, often until tragedy results, if not in loss of life, surely in the loss of quality of life."

HERB LOVETT

'Without mutually respectful relationships, power becomes dangerous. We can hardly be surprised at violence, against one's self or others, in the loveless and sterile environments we have provided for people with disabilities. Where there is no mutual respect, the only right is might. Where there is no love, power becomes the object of desire." (Learning to Listen, p.71)

More from Herb Lovett... "Similarly, the horror stories of what parents have done -- or what they have allowed to happen -- to their daughters and sons occur most often when they have abdicated their common sense and parental love in favor of professional opinion. Some parents have allowed their children to go throught terrible times in the name of fixing them. Other parents have known precisely what their sons and daughters needed yet have been forced to give them something they knew was inappropriate." (Learning to Listen, 1997, p. 109))

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