You may well agree with Gloria that Stefan’s motives here are at least questionable. You may also agree with Libby that Jenny could get hurt by this relationship, if she invests a great deal in it, and Stefan is really just using her in the way that Gloria suspects.

On the other hand, some readers may well wonder why this story is presented here as part of a book on human growth and development. ‘A woman of 28 has got into a relationship with a married man of 43’, you might point out. ‘This may or may not be a good idea, but why is it relevant here, and would it have appeared here if the 28-year-old woman did not have a disability?’ The answer is, of course, that it wouldn’t.

You may also feel uncomfortable about the way that Gloria and Libby are discussing Jenny without her knowledge. Since Gloria is actually employed by Jenny, does she really have any business passing on information to Jenny’s mother, without Jenny’s knowledge? People without disabilities do not employ personal carers, but if a woman who did not have a disability were to employ another woman in some capacity or other (a cleaner, for example, or a hairdresser), would you expect this employee to pass on personal information about her employer to her employer’s mother?

Or does the fact that Jenny is, in some respects, more vulnerable than other women of her own age, make this okay?