With the pain, truama and grief of their experiences laid bare, disability advocates are hopeful a federal royal commission into the sector will lead to greater cohesion.
"We are all leaves of one tree, we are all waves of one sea."
Quoting Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, Alexander Arthur sums up his main hope from a federal royal commission examining neglect and abuse in the disability sector: that people with disability must no longer live separate and inferior lives to the rest of society.
The release of the royal commission's final report on Friday was a momentous occasion for the disability community, including Mr Arthur, treasurer of the Enabled Youth Disability Network.
But the report's stories of violence, neglect and abuse conjured conflicting emotions.
"It's about creating a pause for the grief, for the rage, for the trauma, but also for the hope, the joy and the possibility that we can live in a society together," he said.
People With Disability Australia president Nicole Lee said the report's findings would come as a shock to many Australians but for people with disability it came as no surprise at all.
"We know what our lives have been like," she said.
"We know the assaults, we know the physical and the financial abuse that we've been subjected to. The exclusion, the bullying, and the ridicule that we encounter in our lives.
"That's why we poured ourselves out into that report.
"We didn't put our trauma out there for no reason, we put it out there because we want to see an end to what we've been subjected to for the next generation."
It may be hard for some in the community to believe the report will achieve what it sets out to, while the scars from years of neglect are still raw.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the government promises to enact the vision of a more inclusive society, where "violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability is just not acceptable".
"We recognise the hurt and trauma people with disability have experienced and commit to a safer, more inclusive Australia for all people with disability," the minister told reporters.
Challenges facing the government in implementing the report's recommendations are already evident.
The six commissioners were split on several key recommendations, including whether to phase out segregated education for students with a disability.
Skye Kakoschke-Moore, chief executive of Children and Young People with Disability Australia and a former senator, was in no doubt the system had to change.
"We hear overwhelmingly from our community that segregation is not the way to go," she said.
"Full inclusion is the only way that children and young people with disability will get to realise their full aspirations and fully participate in society."
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
