THE SNP has a proud record of standing up for equality. We elected our first minority ethnic MSP in the late Bashir Ahmed, and have our first female First Minister in Nicola Sturgeon, with a gender-balanced Scottish Cabinet.

But successes like these don’t happen overnight. It takes time and concerted effort to break down the barriers to equality that still exist in Scottish society today.

In the last few years the SNP have worked with our women members to plan and hold a variety of training sessions and conferences for women. These events have been pivotal in encouraging the increased participation of women in our party and our parliaments, by providing a platform for women to receive guidance and support in a number of areas as well as facilitating a forum for discussion around party policy.

But our work here is not yet done. Those of us who have been fortunate to make it to elected office will not pull the ladder up behind us.

By learning from our previous successes, we must now address the under-representation of disabled people in our politics.

Today there are only four out of 650 MPs at Westminster and six out of 129 MSPs at Holyrood who identify themselves as disabled. In a representative Parliament one in five would be disabled members.

But notwithstanding the statistics, this isn’t a numbers game, it’s a point of principle.

If we want our elected representatives to make fair, well-informed decisions about the future of our country which are also based on practical experience, our politicians need to fully understand the needs and desires of all the people who live here.

Our current democratically elected government is certainly by the people, and definitely for the people, but we must include more of us with disabilities if we’re truly to be of the people.

It’s a huge challenge for all political parties, which we must start to actively address without delay. We need parties, council chambers and parliaments which are reflective of wider Scotland.

That’s why as National Women’s and Equalities officer for the SNP I was delighted to sign the One in Five pledge, and to see the party line up with all the major political parties in Scotland to sign up to the One in Five campaign, which aims to encourage, empower and increase political participation amongst disabled people in Scotland.

But we need to go further than a declaration of principles.

So I was privileged last weekend to be asked to open the Scottish National Party’s first-ever Disabled Members’ Conference.

Organised by – and for – our growing membership of disabled people, led by the hugely impressive Jamie Szymkowiak, it provides this important group within our society a visible platform and a real opportunity to participate in politics and public life in Scotland.

Never has this been more important than today, because in contemporary Scotland it’s the marginalised and the vulnerable who are bearing the brunt of the policies inflicted on our country by this Tory government.

Disabled people here have seen the cut in the Disabled Students Allowance for students in other parts of the UK. At the same time, the UK Government has not only had to be dragged through the courts to exempt carers from the benefit cap, but was last week found by the Court of Appeal to discriminate against the families of disabled people in imposing the disgraceful Bedroom Tax on those who required space at home to accommodate a carer.

I’m proud that in a range of areas, it’s been the SNP – in government here in Scotland or by providing the real opposition at Westminster – who have led the work to oppose, and where possible mitigate, against disastrous Tory policies which adversely impact on disabled people.

The Scottish Government has funded Inclusion Scotland offering support to disabled candidates standing in this year’s Holyrood elections, as well as prospective candidates in next year’s council elections.

The current SNP administration has also established the Scottish Independent Living Fund, which provides support for over 2,800 disabled people across the country and has recognised British Sign Language as an official language.

My colleagues and I have done much to help improve the lives of all people across Scotland, but we need to do even more. In particular, we need to be mindful that we should make progress in concert with disabled people and the wider disabled community, not by simply acting on their behalf.

Disabled people are a hugely valued resource to tap into for civic Scotland, not a problem which needs to be solved.

Each and and every attendee at last Saturday’s event helped take the SNP, and Scotland, a step closer to an increasingly equal party and a far more equal country.

Together we can take the talents, skills and experience of everyone in our country and build a better Scotland for us all.