Thursday, October 25, 2007

Georgia Deaf-Blind Woman Starved to Death

In Georgia, a couple have been charged with involuntary manslaughter of a woman who was blind and deaf. The woman had been starved and weighed 46 pounds at the time of her death. The home literally was buried in poop. The story can be found at http://www.nbcaugusta.com/news/local/georgia/10754876.html. The video is literally stomach-churning.

The question here is: WHY were these people living like this???? Did they ever work with community services or agencies? Is it possible the perpetrators had disabilities themselves? What the hell was going on??? We who work in community services to empower people with disabilities know that we aren't actually able to reach everyone, but my god!! Does anyone know folks who work in the Augusta area? Why didn't the neighbors push harder to get someone to investigate?

This makes me think of something else. Here in Chicago, we have a serious lack of buildings with central air conditioning. So during the summer when it's really hot and humid, we are encouarged to check on our neighbors to make sure they aren't getting baked to death, which really happens. In a world where the word "community" really means something, we'd be valuing people and making sure people are living the best lives possible.