Mr. Michael Meere:

From what I have heard,we are still a bit in the dark ages when it comes to disability and employment. That is not good. We need to create awareness and empathy, not sympathy. We lived in a period when people felt sympathy. Of course one should feel sympathy for a person with a disability. However, it is more important to empathise with them and stand in their shoes to know what it is like. That would be huge in terms of bringing about change. More than that, we need implementation of the various strands mentioned today. There were lots of important strands mentioned, which would be very beneficial. More so than speaking about them, implementation is needed. Time is of the essence. We advocate for people with disabilities. I have a disability. We have NLN, which facilitates, empowers, encourages and guides us to the reach our destination. The interventions are there for any help we need on that journey. If we could have more interventions like that it would be a huge help when it comes to living with a disability and affording a disability. Multi-agency and multidisciplinary approaches have been mentioned. They are great in theory and the words are great, but if we had them that would be a huge help to us. I thank everyone for taking the time and for their patience listening to me today. I really appreciate it.