Self Advocates Becoming Empowered is a national self-advocacy organization made up of individuals with developmental disabilities from across the United States. It is our mission to ensure that people with disabilities are treated as equals and that they are given the same decisions, choices, rights, responsibilities and chances to speak up to empower themselves; opportunities to make new friends; and to learn from their mistakes. SABE believes that aversives are neither treatment nor education. They are merely procedures or methods that restrict freedom of choice and adversely affect the human development of people with disabilities. We believe the use of aversives should be considered a failure in treatment. We totally condemn the use of aversives.
We believe that severe punishment, aversives and deprivation are in direct conflict with the rights of persons with disabilities. These rights include the right to freedom; to exert control in all aspects of one’s life; to live, develop naturally as children and adults, and fully participate in society; to be treated with dignity and respect; to live free from mental, physical, or emotional harm; and to be free from severe punishment, aversives and deprivation. We call on national and state agencies to investigate the widespread mistreatment of people with disabilities through the use of aversives, and to support efforts to eliminate the use of aversives.
AVERSIVES – JUST DON’T DO IT!