Rutgers-Newark philosophy chairwoman fights criminal sexual assault charges (original) (raw)

rutgers.newark.jpg

Anna Stubblefield, the chairwoman of the philosophy department at Rutgers-Newark, has been placed on administrative leave while she fights criminal sexual assault charges filed by Essex County prosecutors.

(Tom Wright-Piersanti/The Star-Ledger)

Anna Stubblefield, the chairwoman of Rutgers-Newark’s philosophy department, has been an outspoken proponent of “facilitated communication,” a technique she believes gives the disabled the power to communicate thoughts to the outside world that otherwise would remain locked away.

By guiding the “facilitator’s” fingers across a keyboard, the disabled person can, with some help, “speak” for the first time.

And D.J., a 33-year-old man with cerebral palsy since infancy whom doctors have declared severely mentally disabled, became a model for what Stubblefield believed.
She met him in 2008 through his brother, who'd taken a Stubblefield class in which she discussed the technique.

In the years to come, she worked with him at her offices in Newark and at his adult day care center, court records show.

By 2010, Stubblefield was taking D.J. to conferences in Philadelphia and Wisconsin, where, according to his family, D.J. would communicate to the audience with Stubblefield acting as his facilitator.

“If people believe that people who do not talk do not think, they will believe that they have nothing to contribute,” D.J. wrote in a 2012 essay published under his name in an academic journal for the study of disabilities. “This is a part of disability oppression that must be put forth for more study.”

It was a remarkable breakthrough for someone who doctors claimed had the mental capacity of an 18-month old and could not even effectively communicate with his family.

Or was it?

Today, Stubblefield, 44, is facing criminal charges of aggravated sexual assault for allegedly molesting D.J. repeatedly in her Newark offices in 2011. She’s been placed on administrative leave without pay, university officials say.

And she’s facing a civil lawsuit filed in federal court by D.J.’s mother and brother, who say she used D.J. as a “guinea pig” to advance her cause. They cast her suggestion that D.J. could communicate through her as “a farce” and are seeking an unspecified amount in damages.

The pending criminal case, should it go to trial as expected in the coming months, promises to be a referendum on facilitated communication, a technique dogged by controversy almost from the moment it was first publicly identified in the 1990s.

At issue is whether D.J. effectively communicated his consent through facilitated communication, according to Stubblefield’s lawyer, James Patton.

“This man is in his 30s,” Patton said. “The only issue is whether he’s even capable of giving consent and whether that’s what he did.”

Patton claims that he did.

Essex County prosecutors are expected to counter with experts who will testify that facilitated communication is an idea peddled by advocates that has repeatedly failed to stand up to the rigors of scientific research.

The issue has become a lightning rod for debate among academics and practitioners over whether facilitators — either purposefully or through a misguided desire to help — are communicating the words of the disabled or simply substituting their own.

Stubblefield, who lives in West Orange, has been at the center of the fray.

In an essay published in Disability Studies Quarterly, she accused the technique’s detractors of engaging in hate speech.

“Anti-FC rhetoric functions not as principled scientific debate intended to help humanity in its quest for truth but rather as hate speech intended to silence dissenters, with the result (whether intended or not) of contributing to the ongoing marginalization and oppression within our society of people labeled as intellectually impaired,” she wrote.

Critics point to several high-profile criminal cases in which evidence gleaned through facilitated communication eventually turned out to be untrue.

The most recent occurred in 2007 when Michigan prosecutors charged the father of a 14-year-old autistic and mute girl with sexual abuse. The girl’s mother was also charged with allowing the abuse.

Charges against the couple were dropped the following year and they are pursuing a lawsuit against Oakland County, Mich., prosecutors, according to reports.

Howard Shane, a speech pathologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, is among those who have attacked the practice as unproven. Shane declined to comment because he may be called as a witness in the case.

But in prior interviews, he’s questioned how certain individuals, with the help of facilitators, were suddenly able to communicate in full, grammatical sentences.

Stubblefield has suggested in her writings that the entire field should not be tarred because of mistakes made by inexperienced facilitators.

She points to the experience of Sue Rubin, a California woman with autism who, after years of using facilitated communication with a therapist, learned to type on her own.
Rubin's story was recounted in the 2004 documentary "Autism is a World."

During spring 2008, Stubblefield showed her class the film. In the audience was D.J.’s brother, according to the lawsuit the family filed in federal court last year.

Soon after, at the brother’s urging, Stubblefield began meeting with D.J. in her office and at his adult day care center, the lawsuit says.

In October 2010, Stubblefield arranged to have D.J. present his research at an autism conference in Wisconsin, the lawsuit says. D.J.’s mother joined them on the trip, the lawsuit says.

But several months later, in May 2011, the relationship soured when Stubblefield met with D.J.’s mother and brother and, according to the civil lawsuit, admitted that she had sexual relations with D.J.

In August 2011, D.J.’s family brought their allegations to university police officers, who contacted Essex County prosecutors. Stubblefield was indicted on aggravated sexual assault charges in January 2013.

Hearing Thursday

Both sides are expected to appear in court Thursday for a hearing before state Superior Court Judge Siobhan Teare. The judge is expected to decide whether more tests need to be done to determine the extent of D.J.’s ability to communicate and comprehend.

Meanwhile, the pending civil litigation has been placed on hold until the criminal case is resolved, lawyers say.

Rutgers-Newark spokeswoman Helen Paxton declined to comment.

In January, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Wigenton dismissed Rutgers as a defendant in the lawsuit.

The judge brushed aside claims made by the family’s attorney, Charles Lorber, who suggested Rutgers effectively turned a “blind eye” to human research being conducted by its own professors.

“Plaintiffs argue that Rutgers failed to police human research, especially with respect to facilitative communication where the teacher must use a vulnerable class of people who are handicapped in that they cannot communicate,” Wigenton wrote. “Even taking all of these factual allegations as true, they do not amount to the institution or implementation of an unconstitutional policy which condones or encourages rape or sexual exploitation.”

• Former Syracuse president takes reins as Rutgers-Newark chancellor

• Rutgers-Newark increasing student alerts about off-campus crimes

FOLLOW THE STAR-LEDGER: TWITTER • FACEBOOK • GOOGLE+

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.