Yes, as has often been the case, the Coalition government has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the point where the proposal finally has bipartisan support. But, as with last year's banking Royal Commission, the important thing is it got there.

People with a disability, who make up 20 per cent of the Australian population, remain one of the most neglected, disadvantaged and just plain overlooked groups in our society.

They are shut out on the one hand and then, in an ironic twist, often shut in and dehumanised on the other. It would be very hard to guess, just from looking at our streets, our shops, our workplaces and our schools, that four million of us live with some form of disability.

While it is good that this proposed Royal Commission will likely lift the lid on many of the horrible things we already know are happening to some of our most defenceless and vulnerable community members, it needs to go much further than what is happening in institutions.

Abuse extends far beyond sexual and physical assault, routine denigration and humiliation, and bullying.

The denial of essential and necessary services, arbitrarily imposed poverty, bureaucratic neglect, excessive bureaucratic meddling, and the denial of opportunities for self-fulfilment and expression are also forms of abuse.

Those with a disability make up a disproportionate number of those accessing homeless services and 27.4 per cent live below the poverty line.

This is why, although it may not quite grasp this point, the Morrison government is accidentally correct when it says the disability Royal Commission needs to be signed off by the States and Territories.

We will need clear agreement on the terms of reference across the board in order to ensure maximum compliance by state and territory based care providers when the grilling begins.

Consideration should also be given to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the most significant single reform in this sector in well over a century, and whether there is scope to include it within the terms of reference.

While the NDIS was brought into being with the best of intentions, some of its outcomes have left people worse off.

The ACT's inquiry into the NDIS, which wrapped up last year, found: "(there are) significant service gaps due to funding restrictions" and "the role of the ACT Human Rights Commission as advocates for participants was not being recognised".

The NSW government inquiry into the NDIS was due to deliver its report by December 6, 2018. The NSW government is expected to deliver its response at the end of this month.

Many Canberrans would be old enough to remember the hope, energy and co-operation that grew out of the United Nations's International Year of the Disabled Person in 1981.

Although much has been achieved in the nearly 40 years since, there is more that remains to be done.