PETPOSITIVE SAYS:
As everyone knows, life as a disabled person - or as a carer - is never easy.
This tragic story in the UK proves this fact.
However, we need to ask ourselves if it is the disability itself or the lack of support systems that make life a living hell.
In this case, the local council appears to have done its part to help the mother and her young daughter.
Physically they seemed okay; but mentally? Reading stories like these, I shudder to think of the situation for the disabled poor in Malaysia and where they can turn to for help?
Read on . . .
PET+BLOGSPOT
Disabled woman 'may have starved to death after her carer mother died suddenly'
By Andy DolanLast updated at 8:52 AM on 4th August 2010 From Mail Online
This is the first picture of a disabled woman and her mother who were found dead in their home.
The bodies of Stephania Wolf, 67, and her daughter Sam, 29, were found after going unnoticed for several weeks.
It is thought Sam may have been left to starve to death after her mother, who cared for her full time, died suddenly in her bed.
Tragedy: The bodies of Stephania Wolf and her disabled daughter Sam were found inside their home in Hertfordshire
The pair, who were known to adult care services, had refused the help of social workers.
Police are investigating whether Mrs Wolf, who was found in her bed, died suddenly, leaving her paralysed daughter unable to care for herself or raise the alarm.
It is thought the bodies had been in the three-bedroom property for a number of weeks and had partially decomposed before they were found on Saturday.
Mrs Wolf devoted herself to caring for her daughter, who was found just yards from her mother's body.
Police are also investigating whether she may have killed her daughter before taking her own life.
She was last seen by neighbours six weeks ago and was said to have become increasingly reclusive and burdened by responsibility for her daughter, who was paralysed from the neck down.
One neighbour yesterday said that Mrs Wolf had been 'very depressed' for the past year and was often seen 'snapping' at people in the streets around her home in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire.
Neighbours said that her daughter, who has not been named, rarely left the house although Mrs Wolf did have a specially adapted van to transport her.
The woman, who has asked not to be named, said police had told her that she was the last person to see Mrs Wolf, when the pair chatted outside the chemist's in the village.
Tragedy: The house in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
Stephania Wolf had not been seen by Wheathampstead locals for several weeks
'It seems they had been there for quite some time before the police found their bodies. Stephanie gave her life to caring for her daughter.
'She almost wore it as a burden that her daughter was disabled. She felt she was responsible. She seemed very agitated when I last saw her. I tried to offer her some help with taking her daughter out of the back of their van but she said 'no'.
'The only other thing she said to me was, 'I wish people would stop coming into my home when they're not invited', but I did not know exactly what she meant by that.'
The woman said Mrs Wolf had refused help from social services to look after her daughter and was on medication.
Another neighbour said that three years ago, Mrs Wolf put a large sign on the roof of the bungalow reading 'help', and was sometimes seen washing her daughter in a paddling pool in the garden.
But another local resident said he believed that she had died and her daughter then starved to death.
The man, 50, who did not want to be named, added: 'They were devoted to each other and I don't think her daughter could cope when she lost her mum.'
It is understood that the mother and daughter lived at the house alone for the last 20 years, when a man believed to be the younger woman's father moved out.
Police were not treating the deaths as suspicious and an initial post-mortem examination showed neither woman had suffered external injuries.
A spokesman for Hertfordshire Constabulary said it appeared nobody else was involved, but that inquiries were continuing.
He added: 'The bodies were found inside the property and may have been there for some considerable time.'
Hertfordshire County Council said it was now looking into the case and reviewing its dealings with the family.
A spokesman said: 'The situation at the moment is that they were known to adult care services but they refused the offer of our services.'
The authority carried out an assessment of Ms Wolf's home in August 1998. After this a number of ramps and rails were fitted to help her daughter. Further offers of support were also made but these were refused, the council said.
Then, in March 2006, the council offered Ms Wolf the chance for her daughter to attend a day care centre but this was also refused.
That was the last time the council was in contact with Ms Wolf and her daughter.
A source at the council said social services still had a duty to care for families who needed help, even if they refused it.
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