How this disability group has made it easier to get around Hebden Bridge

The routes give easy access to people with impaired vision and mobility and the map is available from Hebden Bridge Library, Town Hall, Visitor Centre, Valley Medical Centre, Hebden Bridge Station and other shops and cafes.

The back of the map lists many premises which have step-free access, hearing loops and accessible toilets.

All of the research and mapping has been done by HBDAF members and associates, who are disabled people from the Hebden Bridge area.

Some of the premises were improved by grants from the 2017 Accessible Hebden project, funded by the Community Foundation for Calderdale (CFFC).

The forum has also been very busy this year improving access in town by giving out portable ramps thanks to a grant from CFFC.

The first four were issued in February to Just Books, Dragonfly Boutique, Rohan Outdoor and Age UK charity shop, who were all delighted to receive them. One forum member and wheelchair user, who tested the ramps in a powerchair, was thrilled to be able to access a bookshop for the first time for 26 years.

Stickers on the shop window indicate they have a portable ramp, and shopkeepers quickly respond to a knock on the window to attract their attention.

HBDAF has continued this project, with ramps now issued to Heart Gallery, Rendezvous Café, the Stubbing Wharf pub, Humblest of Pleasures café and L.T.D boutique, making the town an even more “disabled friendly” place to live, work and visit.

Portable ramps enable wheelchair users, and those unable to manage steps, to access shops, and are an easy and cost-effective way of tackling this barrier to people with mobility impairments.

For more information and to view the map online click here