New rule: It's alright to restrain if the victim is disabled

Doron Almog may have won the 2016 Israel Prize and amassed a horde of friends in high places. But I have photos of the bedrooms in the Jerusalem branch of ADI, a large, closed institution for children and young adults with disabilities in which he plays a lead role. They are damning.

A notice was circulated last week by the Director General of Israel's Ministry of Welfare. It's entitled (my translation from the source Hebrew) "Tools and procedures for identification, prevention and response/remedy for challenging, dangerous behavioral situations in facilities of the Disabilities Administration" 

Dated May 23, 2022 and downloadable (in Hebrew) from here, the circular formally declares the use of the "crib-beds" in which Almog's people have been been enclosing ADI's institutionalized residents to be banned.

I made an unannounced visit to ADI Jerusalem (then known as Aleh Jerusalem) in 2018. See "Making history: After the raid". During that visit, we were shown beds, one of them occupied, that are best described as "cages". The person in the bed below was photographed at 12:30 pm, the middle of the day. 

2018: Bed-cages in use at the ADI Jerusalem institutional residence

This is not to say that the Ministry of Welfare's other regulations were welcomed by defenders of the human rights of people with disabilities. In fact those with whom I was in touch were infuriated. Disturbingly wide discretion is granted to staff members in institutions to restrain the movement of residents. The regulations say they may do so "only in unusual instances, and only to prevent actual, immediate danger to a person or to another and only to the extent that is required for that purpose."

Included specifically in that carte blanche is the use of hand splints for 45 minutes; fastening to chairs during meals; and locking up and isolating residents in a "protection room" for up to an hour at a time. 

These measures may be used on anyone with disabilities aged 6 years or more, who engages in "challenging, dangerous behavior" (again my translation of the Hebrew).

The new regulations will go into effect in six months from now. Among other reasons, this is to enable institutions to prepare for their implementation.

Here's what Adv. Naama Lerner of the Movement for Independence (a group I mentioned in this earlier post a week ago) wrote in reaction to the new regulations (again my translation from the source Hebrew):

"I urge you to read this circular with great interest. It permits harsh restrictions on people in institutions with "challenging behavior". It permits fastening to a chair, isolation, tying up, in very pretty words and with 'professionalism'. For now, this is for your information. In the future we intend to act forcefully against these regulations."

Too bad all those well intentioned donors to ADI institutions have never seen these bed-cages.