My political journey started on a picket line on Merseyside when I was 10. My dad worked at Vauxhall in Ellesmere Port and was on strike – something that happened a lot in the 1970s.

We had been told that I needed to go to Moorfields hospital in London to see if anything could be done to save my failing sight. My family couldn’t afford to pay for the trip, but the shop steward organised a collection on the picket line and I was able to go. Doctors decided there was nothing they could do so we returned with some of the cash unspent. We tried to give it back but were told to hang on to it as I would need additional support. We bought the Perkins Brailler machine that is still on my desk at home, often used to prepare an attack on the coalition. For me, that day was a practical expression of the solidarity of working people that is at the heart of the Labour movement.

I experienced the Labour movement’s core principles for solidarity and equality in practice once again this week, as I dealt with the reaction to my decision to come out about my gender transition. I didn’t want to have the decision forced on me; to have a powerful newspaper hold me up to ridicule and notoriety. There have been plenty of examples where people have suffered because of that kind of negativity, with some taking their own lives. Fortunately, the reaction in my case has been overwhelmingly positive. I am seeking to become the Labour MP for Sutton and Cheam and have had encouraging words from both of my opponents, as well as from my party leader, Ed Miliband, and Gloria De Piero, the women and equalities spokeswoman.

The one negative reaction was from the Sun columnist Rod Liddle, asking how a blind person could know their sexual identity. I wonder whether he knows he’s a man when he turns the light out. The response to the cheap comment has been amazing. It caused a Twitter storm and more than 21,000 people have signed a petition calling for an apology. I am overwhelmed. It is very humbling to hear that my personal story is inspiring people. It helps hugely to build my confidence and be even more determined to influence change, to secure a fairer and more inclusive society.

The gender transition journey is both a medical one and a legal one – and the last Labour government’s extension of sex discrimination legislation, which brought the Gender Recognition Act (2004) to fruition, has made a real difference. This has meant that aligning one’s physical characteristics to one’s sense of identity enables many of us to be affirmed in the right gender. For those who go through gender reassignment it ends our sense of incongruence, bringing inner contentment and happiness. Why should that be open to ridicule?

I believe Labour is the party that will tackle the barriers facing disabled people and those with transgender experience. These include institutional barriers and discrimination, where policies and procedures prevent people from fulfilling their lives. Then there are misconceptions and prejudices about people who are different. I want to play a part in bringing about these changes. I “came out” because in an age when trust in politics is low, I need to be honest about my background and embrace it. That’s important because as an equality campaigner I am passionate about bringing about fairness and justice for ordinary people. I am deeply committed to campaigning right across the equality spectrum. I think that stems both from my gender identity experience as well as my experience with a disability. My working-class background is what drives me to fight for fairness for me and other people and I am very much deeply rooted in Labour values.

I spent a lot of time in hospital as my sight worsened in my early childhood. It’s why I am so passionate about the NHS. At the Labour party conference in Manchester, I spoke out against the discredited Health and Social Care Act 2012 and its poisonous competition clauses. Andy Burnham has made it clear that the Labour government will repeal the internal market.

We need to take out competition from the health system, replacing it with collaboration. We need to get back to raising clinical standards and integrated care. Just as the Labour government delivered for me and for people like me, Britain now desperately needs a Labour government to deal with the many other injustices that still exist, and to reverse the unfair coalition cuts that have hit disabled and other disadvantaged people hard.