Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In fairness, a significant number of questions have been asked about what can be done to improve these circumstances. This is part of autistic people being the experts and, therefore, giving testimony about their own lives and circumstances, as they perceive them. I ask Ms Dada to go into more detail about that. We all get the idea that the assessment system is not what it should be and that the therapies that should exist do not. Ms Dada has thrown into the mix, for want of a better term, the aspect of harder-to-reach communities, as well as everything else she referred to.

Ms Dada spoke about parentification. We all know the problem faced by people aged over 18, whatever problems there are with children's services, is that adult services can be non-existent. Ms Dada also spoke about using the NGO sector as her means of getting information and whatever help and support she has got. This brings us back to the question Senator Black asked regarding what can be done to improve the situation. What can be done in circumstances where families do not necessarily buy that the problem is autism, do not recognise or see it, and, therefore, are not even looking for the interventions, as difficult as it might be to get them?