Is it against the law to leave a disabled person home alone?

Answer 1

A person could be charged criminally for leaving a disabled person alone under certain circumstances, but would need a lot more details and much would depend on the laws in the state or country the party resides in, in what way and to what degree the person is disabled, is the disability permanent or temporary, does anyone else live with the disabled person or in charge or their care, whether the disabled person was a minor or an adult, and if an adult, did they request to be left alone and are they of sound mind and if left alone could they reasonably care for themselves (feed, go to the bathroom, bathe, etc.) without being a danger to themselves or others. Many people with disabilities of all types, whether it be blindness, paraplegic, mildly mental handicapped, etc. can successfully live on their own with proper education, tools and good support system and emergency action plan.

The danger for being charge criminally negligent of a disabled person would be where a prudent, reasonable person, would see that the disabled person could not take care of themselves or be a danger to themselves if someone was not with them or they would have the tools, support system and good emergency action plan in place. A good example would be leaving an elderly parent at home for weeks that was not of sound mind or that could not walk, had no wheel chair to get to the bathroom or shower and/or left in dirty adult diapers no access to food, no nearby phone or emergency call button and no one coming in to check on them or assist them on a regular basis.

Answer 2

Most laws of this type are written to protect children, but applying those statutes to a similar situation with a helpless adult, it might fall under the heading of "elder abuse."