Hell-bent on demonising not just the unemployed in people’s eyes, the Con-Dems and the media barons have decided to turn their sights on the disabled.

Disability hate crimes in 2013-14 rocketed, accounting for 4 per cent of all hate crime.

Much of this can be attributed to the right-wing newspapers highlighting the tiny 0.7 per cent of disability living allowance fraud, but conveniently overlooking the 99.3 per cent of genuine disability claimants.

Since 2010 there have been a number suicides by disabled people directly attributable to having their benefits stopped and having nothing left to live on.

What kind of government hounds its disabled citizens to the point where the only way out is to take your own life? The dehumanisation of the disabled is being felt acutely as David Cameron steps up his attack on this section of society.

New announcements include a promise to end disability benefit for the obese and people with addictions.

There was no announcement of any help or support, however, to deal with either affliction.

This is the Tory way, of course — sink or try to swim with no lifejacket on.

The disabled are judged to be the flotsam of society and not worth helping as the spin doctors have us way down on the list of electoral priorities.

The rest of society have been sold the lie again on TV mostly that the disabled are “scroungers” and “putting it on” and not worthy of being treated with dignity by our government.

The only disabled people Cameron seems to favour are Paralympians.

If only all disabled people could aspire so high, he says.

But isn’t it up to us working-class people to say enough is enough?

There have always been a tiny percentage of people trying to game the system.

But we have been sucked into this Tory mantra of believing the majority of benefit claimants are unworthy of our support. This simply is not the case.

Now we are left with whole sections of our society, vilified, verbally and physically abused, and met with disgust at being unemployed or disabled.

Hold this thought. If we devalue, dehumanise our once proud welfare state, what will happen when misfortune comes yours or your family’s way?

You are one accident, one redundancy, one factory shutdown away from perhaps having to claim a state benefit. Don’t you want a compassionate government to be there and help you out in your hour of need? I do.

Unite Community has called a National Day of Action against sanctions on March 19. For more information visit www.unitetheunion.org or www.facebook.com/AgainstSanctions.