The extremely sad and tragic story of Satpal Kaur Singh demonstrated once again the lack of attention paid by social services to adequately support mental health and children. Satpal pleaded to manslaughter and was sentenced to 7 years for killing her 12 year old autistic son by making him drink bleach. Her own mental health deteriorated as she struggled to cope with the care of her son.
Whilst the services will get much of the blame for neglect, as an Asian, I do need to look at our the community and its attitude towards both mental and physical illnesses. Where were her family? Did they not notice her deterioration in health and the risk to the boy? Why do we turn our backs on people with illnesses? After all, we pride ourselves on looking out for each other and being a family.
It is a shame that there is such a lack of understanding with these illnesses and people are riddled with fear and a sense of embarrassment. People still feel ashamed of ill family members and they are often left to their own devices.
I recall a close member of my family who is physically disabled saying “I with people would talk to me then over me. I am here.” This person’s physical disability did not prevent her from getting an education and becoming a successful solicitor. But it did prevent people in our community from engaging with her. She went on to marry an Englishman to which the community said, “Well, it would be hard to get her married”.
The shameful way illnesses and disabilities are treated needs to be changed, especially when lives are at stake. I feel that in the case of Satpal Kaur Singh, that her family and community have some part to play in the death of Ajit Singh Mahal as the neglectful social services.
Bunty
