For the half a million people in Greater Manchester who are impacted by disability, every aspect of their day-to-day life is affected by accessibility – from education to employment and from public transport to leisure. In this series of articles, I will investigate how accessible Greater Manchester is for disabled people by exploring different areas of accessibility.
For 24% of the UK, day-to-day life is impacted by a physical or mental disability. In 2023, 16.1 million people reported to have a disability according to the UK Parliament House of Commons, alongside 521,314 disabled people reported in Greater Manchester in 2024 according to the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People. That is 19% of the Greater Manchester population and 3.2% of the UK population.
So how does Manchester cater for the half a million disabled people who now live in the city? I conducted a survey to get opinions from residents of Greater Manchester to find out how accessible they think their borough is.
Emily, from Manchester, said: “Often paths are blocked by cars which might cause an issue for some people. Also roads and paths that have pot holes in might cause issues for those that are blind and use a cane. I think just general road maintenance could be a big issue for accessibility.”
Another participant from Manchester said they would like to see, “more ramps for wheelchair users and more hand rails”.
I spoke to Ellie Henry, a disabled actor and advocate who is most recognised for her role as Freya Calder in long-running Channel 4 soap, Hollyoaks; Zara Beth, a disability positive content creator from Manchester; and Victoria Ellen, a self published author and neurodivergent positive content creator.
Ellie was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos syndrome at the age of 15, a rare genetic connective tissue disorder that affects the function of her muscles, bones, blood vessels and other organs.
Originally from Milton Keynes, Ellie recently moved to Castlefield to be closer to acting opportunities. However, she has found the city difficult to navigate as a wheelchair user.
She said: “Manchester’s tricky, because the main thing I used to rely on was being able to drive somewhere, get out of my car with my wheelchair and then be free to be at the place in my wheelchair. But here it’s obviously not designed for driving and parking somewhere.
“I was going from Deansgate to the Home theatre and I got tripped up by the same cobble once on the way there and once on the way back. I ended up on the floor on the road twice, just because where the curb is it goes straight into two cobbles and then it’s the road and that tripped my front wheels up.
“I live completely independently and I like to walk my dog here. I can’t just think about him, I have to think about the cobbles, the bridges over the canals. When I have to walk somewhere, the cobbles and the curb cuts are just very inaccessible in terms of pavements.”
Zara has been a content creator for four years, inspiring others and being open about living with tourettes and being an ambulatory wheelchair user in Manchester.
She said: “I share both the good and the bad sides of what I’m going through so that other people can relate to it. I’m not a doctor, I can’t cure anybody, I can’t really give advice, but I think it’s really reassuring for other people to see somebody with the things that they have like representation.
“Manchester has such a big LGBT community that has been very accommodating on a disability level. There’s quite a lot of neurodivergent clubs in the queer spaces, they’re all made quite accessible. So it’s kind of merged those two communities, but Manchester’s a lot more friendly than I’ve found in other places.”
As a wheelchair user in Manchester, Zara applauded the city for being accommodating and accessible. She said: “The majority of places I go in Manchester have been great and even if there is a problem, people are quite willing to help out, like when a lift was broken, loads of people offered to help carry my chair. I think it’s a lot more accessible than many places nearby because it’s so built up and it’s quite flat and everywhere is quite accessible.
“And the community, I think because it’s already so diverse, people are more accommodating, more accepting and more open to learning about disability and how they can help. It’s a very creative and diverse city.”
Victoria is PhD student and self published author from Rochdale who writes about her experiences growing up neurodivergent in Manchester. She’s also a content creator who provides relatable and comforting content for fellow neurodivergent followers.
She said: “I was 25 when I got my autism diagnosis so it took me a while before that, when I was at university. I was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia through my university and then, about a year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD.”
Overall, Victoria appreciates Manchester’s accessibility but believes there’s room for improvement to accommodate those with invisible disabilities. She said: “I like Manchester. I’ve always liked Manchester, even from being very young. My parents would bring me to Manchester and I used to really like it.
“It is accessible in a lot of ways, but then there are things that people can do. It kind of feels like disabled people are a bit of an afterthought generally – I think attitudes could change a little.”
In these series of articles, I will investigate different aspects of Manchester and how accessible it is for disabled people. I will look into the accessibility of public transport, employment, education and a lot more.
The next article will be on the accessibility of public transport.
Feature image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay
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