Jenny Quinton is a woman of 28, living on her own in a housing association flat, who has a number of impairments as a result of cerebral palsy (CP). Her mobility is very limited. She can walk a short distance with the aid of crutches, but uses a mobility scooter outside. As a result of her CP, her speech is very slow and indistinct, which makes a lot of people assume she is learning disabled, although this is not the case. When she goes into a shop with someone else, it is quite common for shop assistants to speak over her head to her companion, rather than addressing her directly, something that always makes her angry.

Using a computer is a difficult business for her, and she can’t write by hand. Her mother (Libby) lives a few miles away, and Jenny and her mother see each other about twice a week. Her father left the family when she was 2 and started a new family. He now has no contact at all. She is her mother’s only child.

Jenny does not have a job. Her communication difficulties in particular, even more than her difficulties with mobility, make finding appropriate employment very difficult. She receives a personal independence payment, and uses this to pay for personal care from an agency. Her mother helped her arrange this.

She has several carers who come in daily to help with dressing, bathing and other tasks such as shopping. Of these carers, the one who visits most and has known her for the longest is Gloria Johnson (see Case Study F), aged 32. Jenny gets on well with Gloria. Jenny’s mother, Libby, also gets on well with Gloria. In fact, they knew each other before, slightly, as they attend the same Pentecostal church, which Jenny also sometimes attends (though less regularly and not lately).

Libby and Gloria are in touch by email at least once a week about Jenny: how she’s getting on, what kind of mood she’s been in, anything that’s bothering her or worrying her. Neither of them have told Jenny about this regular contact because they know she’d dislike the idea of them talking about her behind her back.

Recently, Jenny has started seeing a man called Stefan.

Gloria is concerned about this relationship and is emailing Jenny’s mother.

Gloria Johnson emails:

Libby, I feel worried about Jenny and I feel I need to tell you. She’s seeing this Polish man Stefan who she met when he was one of the electricians working on the wiring in the flats. You may have seen him in the building when you were visiting perhaps? There were three of them working there, but the other two were in their twenties. He was the older one with the shaven head and the beer belly. You might have seen him outside having a smoke.

Apparently, he’s 43. She says she hasn’t told you about him, because she knows you’d disapprove, so please don’t tell her I said anything but I think you ought to know. He’s a lot older than her – 15 years – and I think he’s just using her. I know he has a wife and little kids in Poland because one of my other customers told me. When I said that to Jenny, she said she knew about it already, but said that he’d told her that he and his wife are separated now and it’s Jenny he loves. I don’t think he’d really told her everything though. I thought she looked pretty surprised and upset when I mentioned about the kids, even though she said she wasn’t. I’ve also heard he’s tried it on with other residents in the flats. What sort of man preys on young women with disabilities like this?

Stefan was around there once when I visited. Jenny was like a giggly little girl, and he was like, well, I can’t really put it into words, but he was a bit like the cat that had got the cream, you know? Enjoying having a woman he could twist around his little finger. I’m sure he’s just using her for easy sex, and I think that’s awful. It would be bad anyway, a married man his age fooling round with a young woman, but it’s just disgusting with Jenny. He shouldn’t take advantage of someone like her.

I’ve told Jenny what I think. Maybe I shouldn’t have done, but I did. She said it was none of my business. She said she pays me to give her personal care, not to be another mum poking into her private life and telling her off. She said she’s twenty-eight and she can look after herself. I’m having to bite my tongue now. But, Libby, she CAN’T look after herself, can she!

I’m worried because it’s wrong, and I’m worried because I think he will drop her one day when he finds someone else, or goes back to Poland, and then she’ll break her heart. And I’m worried that Jenny will have a baby she couldn’t look after. I did try to ask her that time whether she was using a condom. That was actually when the argument started. She was very embarrassed to talk about it, and she went bright red and shouted at me that it wasn’t my business.

I just thought you ought to know, Libby.

Libby Quinton replies to Gloria:

Thanks for this. Oh dear!

It does help to explain how Jenny’s been lately. She’s been a bit sort of distant. I’ve asked her a few times if she’s got something on her mind, or what the matter is, and she’s assured me nothing.

Yes, I remember Stefan. I have to admit I quite liked him. I must have run into him two or three times. He always seemed polite and friendly. Not so bad-looking either. Fancied himself as a lady’s man, I thought at the time. (Of course it didn’t bother me then, because it didn’t occur to me that he’d be interested in Jenny.) I can certainly see why Jenny would fall for him. She’s never really had a proper boyfriend in her life, and she worries about that a lot. So I guess it must be pretty exciting for her that a halfway decent-looking man like that takes an interest. But yes, you’re right, Jenny could get badly hurt here. Oh dear.

And if she got pregnant… well, it doesn’t bear thinking about. There’s no way she could look after a baby. I mean, she can’t even look after herself, can she? That’s the reason you’re involved!

I’m glad you told me. I’m not sure what to do because she’d be so angry if she knew you’d told me, and I don’t want that because you’re one person she really trusts.

I feel badly that I didn’t see this coming. I suppose I always see her as my little girl.

I’ll have to think about it.