Annie Ryan's autistic son smiled warmly when staff unveiled a birthday cake for him at the residential centre where he lives.
"Tom was so delighted," says Annie. "His brother and family were there, and other people living in the centre.
"There is a kindness there, a relaxed atmosphere. The difference between it and the mental hospital where he lived is that people of different levels and ability were put in together there. There was tension and frustration. To me, that was the wrong system."
Ms Ryan, a 73-year-old campaigner for disability services, has long been calling for an end to the detention of handicapped people in mental hospitals. Plans to introduce standards for disability services go right to the heart of what she and others have been seeking for decades.
Most services for the disabled, around 80 per cent, are delivered by voluntary organisations, while the rest is handled by health boards. There is general consensus on the need for standards to ensure greater accountability of service-providers, both to the people they serve and to the Government agencies that provide these organisations with more than €1 billion a year.
For Ms Ryan, the need for basic mandatory standards is all the more necessary given what she says is the State's failure to honour its treaty obligations under the UN Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
"The Convention guidelines are not outrageous - choosing your own clothes, for example. Yet some people are forced to wear other people's underclothes. These are ordinary, everyday things which need to be addressed."
The difference in the behaviour of her son since his move has been remarkable. "There were times when he was utterly miserable, even though there were some very, very good nurses where he was. It was the system that was at fault.
"The difference is huge - it's not necessarily a difference of money. I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's cheaper than the old place. The difference now is that he has his own place. He's delighted now."
