And it's actually what the community is around you that's important.

Totally.

Yeah.

Like we live in such an individualized society, I suppose, where everything is kind of put on ourselves as an individual to do everything for ourselves.

And that's not really historically the way that like we live as a society.

You know, everyone, regardless of disability, to some level kind of depends on other people.

And there's like some kind of mutual care and support that goes on.

But while we're waiting for that day when that is all, that system is better, what kind of advice or takeaway would you give to people with intellectual disabilities and their families right now who might be confused and worried? Where do you start when the system is so challenged?

And what do you think, you know, from your analysis of the situation and reading through the cost of disability report, what's the cause of this inequality, really? What's at the root? Yeah,

it's a big question.

I suppose, as you kind of said already, it's a systemic issue, really.

It's not something that just affects disabled people.

It all comes from like a kind of a bigger structure.

So, you know, generally, of course, we live in a society of quite extreme economic inequality.

You always hear these reports that say like that Ireland is one of the top five richest countries, but that's only according to GDP.

And what do you think, you know, in Inclusion Ireland's position on all of this, could you maybe share with our listeners what needs to be done about this issue so that all disabled people can have an ordinary life, which is what people are looking for?

And it's actually what the community is around you that's important.

Totally.

Yeah.

Like we live in such an individualized society, I suppose, where everything is kind of put on ourselves as an individual to do everything for ourselves.

And that's not really historically the way that like we live as a society.

You know, everyone, regardless of disability, to some level kind of depends on other people.

And there's like some kind of mutual care and support that goes on.

But while we're waiting for that day when that is all, that system is better, what kind of advice or advice takeaway would you give to people with intellectual disabilities and their families right now who might be confused and worried? Where do you start when the system is so challenged?

So just to provide a bit of a framework and background for our listeners on the Assisted Decision-Making Act, Maybe you could just tell us a little bit more about the Act and, you know, specifically how the legislation is designed to support individuals with intellectual disability and their family members and supporters.

Yeah, sure.

So just to give a bit of background on the Act without getting into too much detail, the Assisted Decision Making Act replaced a very archaic old fashioned acts called the Lunacy Act from the 1800s.

So you can even tell by the name it's very outdated.

And back then in the 1800s and for much of the 1900s as well, it was largely used to institutionalize people and lock people up who were judged to lack capacity or things like that.

But then more recently, it was used to make people who were judged to be lacking capacity what's called a ward of court.

So that was a specific legal status that meant that a person can't make their own decisions about things like marriage or even traveling without authorization from a court.

The ordinary decision making has been explored fully.