By Marie Jackson BBC News, London

Janet Drinkwater grew up using a wheelchair

I wear a baseball cap when I use the bus because you do get looks and people thinking 'what is she getting on for?'

I grew up using a chair and have seen a great improvement, but I do think bus drivers need a lot more equality training.

Some can be very patronising.

Delegate Janet Drinkwater is from Enfield and uses a wheelchair

Currently 89% of buses have ramps, but in one year's time the bus service is expected to be 100% accessible.

The Disability Discrimination Act, as it stands, does not count transport as a service which means until then taxi drivers, bus drivers and their companies cannot be prosecuted for failing to be accessible.

Deputy London Mayor Nicky Gavron said she has heard far too many disabled people experience problems with bus drivers.

Conference organiser David Morris said it was important for all disabled people to fight prejudice and it was not good enough for people to have to wait in the rain for three buses because ramps do not work.

"Then soon you will become a normal part of London transport," he told delegates.

For the parties, there is a broad acceptance that training can help, although the Conservatives warn there is no substitute for greater awareness of disabilities, good manners and humanity.

The Lib Dems want bus drivers to be thoroughly trained before going out on the roads, believing this will help to secure a stable workforce too.

Labour, meanwhile, is satisfied that adequate training is underway as more than 20,000 are registered to take Transport for London (TfL) Btec training, which covers disability, and more than 10,000 have already passed it.

Its aspiration is for no bus to leave a garage unless the lifting mechanisms are working.

If you cannot use the Underground from Brixton to Camden you have to get a taxi which even with a taxi card costs �15.

If you have a Freedom pass and take the Tube it would cost you nothing. That is not a fair service.

How can you make the system fair while you are making the infrastructure more accessible?

Kirsten Hearn is a board member for the Metropolitan Police Authority and is visually impaired.

Most admit the 142-year-old London Underground network has a long way to go before becoming accessible.

But Managing Director of LU Tim O'Toole described the pace of change as tremendous but is realistic that private companies working on the Tube are focused on hitting upgrading targets, meaning accessibility is not a priority.

Nicky Gavron, deputy Mayor of London promised half of the underground network would be step-free in the next 20 years.

I do not want to be spending a billion pounds putting in lifts that you cannot use Managing Director of London Underground, Tim O'Toole

Whether this is realistic, Mr O'Toole is unsure.

He says he is concerned that many of the lifts installed are not being used.

"I do not want to be spending a billion pounds putting in lifts that you cannot use," he said. "There has to be a better solution."

The Liberal Democrats have promised free off-peak travel on the buses for people with disabilities if they get in.

They have also called on the government and the Disability Rights Commission to help individuals prosecute LU where the Tube remains inaccessible.

It is about being realistic, says Labour.

People need to know which stations are being upgraded and part of that upgrading has to be fitting lifts that are not always locked, they say.

The Conservatives say Freedom passes and where they can be used is a matter for the Mayor of London.

The experience of Kirsten Hearn shows it is an issue that clearly needs to be addressed by the Mayor, they add.

Doug Alker says deaf people should be considered a linguistic minority

Deaf people need to be perceived as a linguistic minority.

We need to be treated the same as groups who use Urdu or French as their language. It needs to be accepted it is a community language.

We do not want to be part of social services we want to be part of accessible languages.

Doug Alker, chairman of the British Deaf Association

All three parties happily accept British Sign Language (BSL) is an official language, but the treatment of the deaf community appears to vary according to your postcode.

The Lib Dems say they campaigned for a long time to secure recognition of the language but now it is a case of building on the woefully low numbers of interpreters (250 for every 50-70,000 in the UK) by creating a training infrastructure.

For Labour, the impact of deafness on one individual can vary so much that having a single category could not work.

They understand, it is a mixed bag across London and there will be some people whose needs are being met by social services but that does not stop BSL from being recognised as an official language.

The Conservatives too, agreed the treatment of deaf communities varied according to the local authority.

They advised it would be good practice for both authorities and public institutions to listen to Doug Alker's call.

Violent crime and hate crime and the fear of abuse is one of the biggest issues facing disabled Londoners. What's being done to tackle it?

Delegate

For both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats this was a question about the number of police officers.

The Conservatives called for more police and rigorous law enforcement.

In the long term, the Conservatives say it is about eliminating fear and prejudice.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems reiterated their commitment to spend the �3bn earmarked for Labour's ID card scheme on 10,000 new police officers.

Both parties claimed to have been behind the part of the Criminal Justice Act which brought in longer sentences for perpetrators of hate crimes towards disabled people.

Labour believes the root of the problem is ensuring crimes are reported by telling disabled Londoners that they will be listened to and it will be recorded.

Third party reporting and better access to police stations would persuade more victims to come forward, they say.

Should the public sector have a duty not to charge for services for independent living?

Delegate

This, according to the Lib Dems, is the 100 million dollar question.

Full independent living would add a huge figure to the bill but the government, they say, always says it gives money to social services but two-thirds of social services spend more than the government says they need to.

The reality is not enough money is made available, the party says.

The Lib Dems therefore want to restructure a lot of the New Deal to get people back to work and making money for themselves.

They would also provide winter fuel payment for people with higher disability, who are relatively housebound - just as with the elderly.

There are concerns too, say the Lib Dems, over a shortage of adapted housing, especially as a lot of disabled adults are being cared for by elderly parents.

Labour wants disabled people needing assistance to be able to use support services based on choice.

The aspiration, says Labour, is for individuals to be in control of service that is provided.

There should be universal access to services at support level and anything further will have to come out of benefits, with a minimum standard introduced across London, the party says.

The Conservatives however were less convinced it was an added cost the tax payer could afford.

If what is being asked for is a huge range of services, no political party is going to sign up for it.