The Authority for Intellectually Handicapped Persons Act 1985 (068 of 1985) established a government agency to ‘develop and carry out policies’ and provide for services to advance the welfare of people with intellectual disabilities. The Act defined an ‘intellectually handicapped person’, regulated the provision of services to those people and licensed the premises in which services could be delivered. Children and adults with intellectual disabilities would no longer be automatically subject to mental health laws.