UNIONS demanded employers and policymakers protect workers with non-visible impairments and persistent pain from discrimination, the TUC disabled workers’ conference heard today.

The motion, moved by the Royal College of Podiatry, also called for bosses to provide tailored training for management and for specific career pathways for these workers who may not currently receive workplace adjustments.

National Education Union delegate Denise Henry said: “Too many workers living with chronic pain, fatigue, neurological conditions and mental stress are battling not only their impairments, but a workplace culture rooted in stigma, disbelief and exclusion.”

University and College Union delegate Shevante Lansing said: “There still appears to be an outdated attitude that non-visible impairments and conditions that cause persistent pain are not legitimate disabilities.

“At best, our conditions are brushed aside, and at worst we are treated with suspicion, as though we are faking the seriousness of our impairment or pain as an excuse to be lazy.”