UNIONS rallied yesterday against discrimination towards disabled people at the start of TUC disabled workers conference.

Delegates condemned vicious Con-Dem austerity measures that have devastated vital services.

TUC assistant general secretary Paul Nowak said the issues facing disabled workers would be “at the heart of our national march and rally” on October 18.

Mr Nowak condemned the “shameless propaganda about scroungers and spongers” pumped out by the government.

The “torrent of right-wing vitriol” affected thousands of disabled people the most, he said.

On its first day the conference tackled issues including health service cuts, the bedroom tax and Work and Pensions Minister Iain Duncan Smith’s cancelling of the Employment Support Allowance head on.

Delegates warned that cases such as that of Kelly Marie Lennon, who is being made to pay an extra £570 a year for the “spare” room in which she stores her wheelchair, are becoming increasingly common.

Mr Nowak urged unity and co-ordination among trade unions and other organisations, such as Disabled People Against the Cuts, to strengthen the workers’ hand in the fight against austerity.

He noted the fight by transport union RMT to keep open London Underground ticket offices and save thousands of jobs was vital to disabled people, with manned stations key to making the Tube accessible to all.

Shuttering the offices and axing the workers “will make matters worse,” Mr Nowak said.

Wrapping up the day, National Union of Journalists delegate Eleanor Lisney spoke out in defence of the Independent Living Fund, which is on the Con-Dems’ chopping block.

“Many people are terrified of what the closure will mean to them,” she warned, saying it would rob severely disabled people of “some choice in control.”

Conference finishes this afternoon.