Paul O'Connor (20) from Athenry, Co Galway, has a severe disability and depends on adults around him for many of his needs.
For the past five days, he has had to stay at home from "school", with no daycare, respite or physiotherapy - and no real explanation for the break in his vital routine. His mother, Emily, is exhausted, just trying to cope as best she can.
"We were due to go to a graduation on Friday, but now I can't be five minutes away from him - let alone five hours," Ms O'Connor told The Irish Times.
"It is devastating. We are 100 per cent behind the nurses and wouldn't pass a picket, but we don't even have emergency cover and there is nothing we can do."
The O'Connor family is one of many under enormous physical and emotional pressure this week, said Mr Patrick McGinley, director of services at the Brothers of Charity centre, Galway.
"We are very grateful for the cover being given without pay by nurses to maintain our residential services," he stressed. "However, the impact of this situation on people with disability in non-residential care, and their families has been missed."
Within the Western Health Board region, all Brothers of Charity services have been affected - as have nursing homes for the elderly, children's homes and all community services.
In most cases, the burden of care has fallen on relatives.
It is just six months since the Brothers of Charity in Galway was able to offer some additional comfort to parents like the O'Connors.
Paul and his friend, Thomas Law less (20) were among a group of teenagers accepted for a new respite centre which the Brothers of Charity opened in Ballybane, Galway, with £250,000 in assistance from the Construction Industry Federation.
Eden House can provide short-term accommodation for 14 adults, some of whom have very restricted movement and some of whom require constant vigilance to ensure they do not harm themselves.
A week before the strike was due to begin, Mr McGinley wrote to all parents to inform them that both day-care and respite would not be available during the strike.
His mailing-list included 25 families with students in day-care in Galway and Clarenbridge, and 30 families with students attending Eden House and Crannog on the Ballybane campus.
Another 12 families with children in Brother of Charity development centres in Galway were also informed that they cannot attend as a nurse must be on duty.
"We really do appreciate that our staff are providing cover, with no pay, for our residential patients, but the strike is disproportionately affecting children with physical, as distinct from learning, disabilities," Mr McGinley said.
"We just have to hope a resolution can be found to this situation as soon as possible.
"How parents are coping, without either day-care or respite, cannot be imagined."