Tasmanian transgender woman Ally Robins was six-years-old when she started questioning her identity.
She felt something "really strange", like she "wasn't the complete person that she should have been".
It's a feeling that she now understands as gender dysphoria.
You know you exist, you know you're alive, you know you have value but it doesn't feel right.
- Royal Commission witness Ally Robbins
Ms Robins, a mother of seven, works with the Launceston Living Library helping people to unjudge others, and spoke to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability to share her experience of living with multiple disabilities.
When she was 10 she developed unexplainable chronic pain that was never taken seriously.
Born with dyslexia, she struggled at school and was called the "dirty rotten kid" by a principal, and picked on and beaten by peers.
These disabilities were compounded by growing up in a religious household where she was subjected to emotional abuse from her mother, and a father who returned from war suffering from post traumatic stress.
When she confided in her parents about her feelings they sent her to conversion therapy.
At age 12 she was attempting suicide.
"By the time I was 14 that was two years worth of conversion therapy, I was a mess at that time. The only reason it stopped was because I lied. I simply said 'yeah, it's all gone now'. It wasn't gone, it was worse," she said.
"When you are in such a level of high pain that you can't find a way out of... you want that pain to go away."
Ms Robins explained that having gender dysphoria means that you are unable to see your self.
"I have never been able to really look in a mirror and go 'oh that's me, I can deal with that. And that leads to a lot of depression, a lot of concern, and a lot of abuse," Ms Robins said.
"That image of who you are isn't there. And you know you exist, you know you're alive, you know you have value but it doesn't feel right," she said.
"And trying to get people to realise that - is the hardest thing in the world."
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Ms Robins said she wanted to help put an end to children killing themselves.
She said she wanted doctors to better understand the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans communities, and to know how to address people with unusual pronouns.
She also told the Commission that she wanted governments to stop passing laws "to make us look like we are monsters".
"To any child who is experiencing abuse, I tell you, you're worth every breath. You are listened to. You do matter," Ms Robins said.
"It may get dark at times but life is better with you in it...there are those of us who have your back and things will get better. We will make sure of it.
"I challenge the Royal Commission to demand the same."
She said everyone with a disability "was a powerhouse of hope" and deserves a decent life.
"Leave us alone or give us the help that you promise."
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