Ms Joan O'Connor:

On the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, there will be discussion around deprivation of liberty, but people with disabilities are effectively deprived of their liberty when they cannot access a personal assistant and they only get half an hour in the morning or in the evening and they are stuck in their home all day. In this way they are isolated and are on the margins of society. Senator Dolan asked about what was not working in the community. For example, there might be someone on the social housing waiting list who is nearing the possibility of getting accommodation and getting a home but there are no health supports to match. There are waiting lists and they cannot access the health or social care supports to take up the offer. Another example is that they may be living in their home with elderly parents and having a very uncertain future. I wanted to highlight those examples.