Ms Barbara O'Connell:

I would like to highlight the group of people who are acquiring a disability today, in other words, the person who is in a road traffic accident or who has a stroke, brain injury or neurological condition.

These are the future people with disabilities and we must put them front and centre as well. They need rehabilitation services so that they are not disabled and we are enabling them to become enabled to take control and power over their own lives. We have proven time and again that specialist intervention with a clinical background and an individualised approach can get someone from the point of a nursing home back to work. It is that stark. We have seen those changes, yet this cohort of new disabled people are actively being institutionalised. We should be looking at them from the acute hospital perspective all the way down.

I ask that rehabilitation be resourced. Rehabilitation is twofold - taking the people who need to be enabled and empowered while also taking the new cohort who are coming to us with new disabilities and ensuring they do not come back to us in ten years' time and we have to start enabling them again. Rehabilitation works. The sooner you get to someone and the more support you get that person, the more enabled he or she is. Many people return to work and live meaningful lives independently with supports. On a basic level, this is much more cost effective and prevents institutionalisation from happening time and again.