The concerns of Australians with disabilities are being listened to, the prime minister says, but advocates insist the government is missing the chance to enact urgently needed reforms.

The government outlined on Wednesday what steps it would take following a landmark royal commission, but said it would only implement 13 of the 222 recommendations in full.

The response had led to disability advocates saying opportunities to make Australia more inclusive had been wasted.

Some of the larger proposed reforms, such as phasing out special schools, were only “noted” in the government response.

Of the 222 recommendations, the federal government has full or joint responsibility for 172, and said 130 were accepted “in principle”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was dedicated to implementing recommendations from the royal commission.

“This was a very comprehensive royal commission with a range of recommendations we have either accepted or accepted in principle,” Mr Albanese told ABC Radio on Thursday.

“A whole range of the recommendations for disability services are not the responsibility of the Commonwealth government.

“A whole lot of them are about state and territory governments to consider these recommendations as well, as some of the recommendations go to the private sector as well.”

Children and Young People with Disability Australia chief executive Skye Kakoschke-Moore said the commission was a chance at genuine reform, but the opportunity was squandered.

“(The response) was an opportunity for governments to really show their solidarity with the disability community … but that opportunity passed them by,” she told ABC TV on Thursday.

“Everyone was quite taken aback by the sheer small number of recommendations that the government agreed to outright.”

Ms Kakoschke-Moore said she was fearful many of the recommendations would not see the light of day, despite four years of hearings.

“It’s entirely possible that a lot of the recommendations will be put in the too-hard basket. I think we have already seen that with recommendations that were noted,” she said.

The commission found “transformational change” was needed, and proposed reforms across human rights law, advocacy, guardianship, schooling, employment and the justice system.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth denied the government was delaying enacting meaningful changes in the disability sector.

“I understand the frustration of people that want to see action, but I don’t accept the characterisation that we’re just kicking the can down the road,” she told ABC Radio.

“A number of the in-principle recommendations already have money attached to them.”

People with Disability Australia interim president Marayke Jonkers said the government should accept every suggestion to completely re-imagine Australia as an inclusive society, rather than try to fit people into existing systems.

“What we want to do is create a special community for all of us – whether we have a disability or not – where we know how to understand each other, how to communicate with each other, and how to include each other so we can all live up to our full potential,” she said.

Ms Jonkers, who is a retired competitive swimmer, said the Paralympics and the royal commission proceedings both provided glimpses of this vision.

“We step in a Paralympic village and our disability completely disappears because every barrier is gone,” she said.

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This post was originally published on Michael West.