Mr. Damien Walsh:

Senator Clonan's second point is really important in terms of the sense of fragmentation. I agree with him on that, but I do not think we create a space for engagement. If we think parenting is tough, for parents who are born with a child with an impairment or who acquires one, we have seen from Mr. Darmody and Ms Darmody that it is crisis. They are constantly swamped with trying to meet demands. There is no opportunity to engage with disabled adults about what the future could be. In fact, the future, as the Senator pointed out, is painted as pretty bleak. Certainly, from our members' perspective, that will be crucial because I do not think there is currently a shared vision. That is the reality of it. If we are talking about building a sense of momentum and collectivity between parents and disabled people, there is an obvious question: what does the future look like? Part of that requires somehow for it to be resourced for parents to be able to engage with disabled adults and for the disabled-----