You could be forgiven for having royal commission fatigue at this point in time.

Since 2013 we've established royal commissions into pink batts, the banks, sexual abuse in institutions, trade unions, juvenile justice in the NT and aged care.

The royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with a disability marks the seventh such inquiry in six years.

For Sandy Guy this announcement has been a decade in the making.

She spoke up amid allegations of abuse at Victorian services provider Yooralla after first raising concerns in 2008.

Her son Liam has cerebral palsy, spastic quadriplegia and an intellectual disability after being born a premature twin and was in a Yooralla home.

"You never stop worrying about them and you have to trust the service provider that they're going to be well looked after," she told the ABC.

Ms Guy has long been an advocate for a sector-wide overhaul and other parents often reach out to her about their experiences.

"I think a bulldozer needs to go through the sector," she said.

"People with physical disability and [intellectual] disability have been in crisis for decades in our country. It's a disgrace.

"Today is a wondrous day for people with a disability."

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 51 seconds 51 s Disability advocates welcome the long-awaited Royal Commission

Disability abuse should have been ahead in the commissions queue

In many ways this royal commission should have been far ahead of the queue of those commissions which came before it.

For a start, it was first recommended by a Senate Inquiry that was established in 2015 following the 2014 joint ABC-Fairfax investigation into Yooralla.

But some in the sector would say the atrocities against people with a disability date back well before the 1983 Richmond Report recommended the closing of institutions that locked such people away from the gaze of society.

For those who thought the closing of institutions was a panacea, a cure-all for the abuse of vulnerable people, they have been proven wrong time and time again.

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As recently as November last year, the NSW Ombudsman published a special report revealing shocking details of the abuse and neglect of people with a disability in their own family home.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme was meant to help ease some of the systemic problems which led to such abuses because of its focus on personal choice of care providers.

But what it's also done is free some people from an obligation to organisations previously entrusted with their long-term care, physical care or day programs.

Residents or carers frequently told me they were terrified of going public with their concerns for fear of retribution.

So it's not a surprise since the NDIS has rolled out, we've seen more and more people come forward with their stories of alleged abuse and neglect.

State governments, police will be under the spotlight

It's not just charities and not-for-profit organisations that will come under the scrutiny of a royal commission.

There are the state governments who for so long ran the institutions, homes, hospitals and schools that came in contact with people with a disability.

There are also organisations like police forces, which face incredible challenges in training officers to deal with the complexities of people with profound intellectual disabilities who may be putting others, or themselves, at risk.

Sorry, this video has expired A 2017 video showing a number of Victoria Police officers dragging a disability pensioner into his front yard, where he is pinned to the ground and repeatedly beaten across the lower legs.

We've often heard reports of officers who deal with people with an intellectual disability the same as those who have mental health issues, and they are not the same.

But some people with intellectual disabilities also have profound mental health challenges because of the abuse they've experienced over the years.

Further, the police also interact with a legal system that is so ill-equipped to deal with people with a disability as witnesses to their own abuse, particularly those with an intellectual disability.

As one parent John Barnett told me: "It kept coming back to the fact that because you're disabled you won't be believed".

Overmedication by ill-equipped care workers

Then there's a health system, which already under many other pressures, struggles with the profound challenges people with a disability can present.

There are reports of people with a disability being strapped down in hospitals to control behaviour, even when it's a breach of what are known as restricted practices.

Time and time again, parents report adults with an intellectual disability being over-prescribed powerful antidepressants and antipsychotics to control their behaviour, effectively sedating them out of existence.

Many times these medications are dispensed on a "PRN" which means 'as needed' basis, meaning care workers with little or no training in medications are empowered to dispense powerful drugs to vulnerable people.

Those workers too, are regulated and employed on a state by state basis.

Australia has a complex web of blue card, yellow card and children's check systems that make it too easy for unscrupulous and ill-equipped workers to move from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

This is one royal commission that many people will hope will recommend criminal charges.

Greens senator Jordon Steele-John, centre, with disability advocates who called for a royal commission in February. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts )

Royal commission set to cost $100m-$400m

Examining such a complex array of issues doesn't come cheap, with early estimates putting the cost at somewhere between $100 and $400 million.

The Commonwealth has agreed to foot the bill — but only after Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John dragged them kicking and screaming over the line to hold the inquiry.

It will also need an amazing amount of accessibility so all people can take part — sign language, braille, wheelchair access and simple language documents will be needed at every turn.

But despite all the sectors' problems, it's important to note there is an enormous amount of goodwill.

I've met amazing dedicated workers who spend day after day, week after week caring for the most vulnerable Australians in the most challenging conditions.

The roll out of the NDIS across Australia is in some ways the best time to hold this royal commission, because what Australians have learnt from all the commissions going on is that it does create cultural change.

Time to bring the skeletons out of the closest

At a time when the sector is undergoing enormous upheaval, now is the time to bring all the skeletons out of the closet.

But no amount of time in court will solve all the problems or clean out all the problematic people and systems.

With so many of these commissions examining the abuse of vulnerable people, perhaps a permanent standing commission with powers to investigate abuse of any vulnerable person whether it be juveniles, the aged or people with disability could be a possible outcome.

Alison Branley has been reporting on neglect and abuse in the disability sector for the ABC since 2013.

You can put in a submission on the terms of reference at engage.dss.gov.au