Accessible Leeds

A severely disabled 14-year-old boy has made it his mission to make Leeds a more accessible city for wheelchair users.

Nathan Popple, who has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and speaks and types through a computer operated by a foot pedal on his chair.

Despite the challenges he faces, Nathan’s disability does not stop him from leading a full life. What does occasionally stand in his way is more mundane – steps, staircases and narrow shop aisles.

Frustrated after one particular incident, he decided to do something about it and set up a website Accessible Leeds which rates the city’s shops, restaurants, leisure facilities and public transport for their accessibility.

“I wanted to go bowling with my friends, but the place had stairs and I couldn’t get in,” Nathan explains. “It made me angry, so I decided to make a website to help others.

“I believe strongly in fairness and do not think that the world should be able to disable people by not providing access to places.”

Along with one of his support workers, he goes around the city centre checking disabled toilets, automatic doors and steps. Nothing escapes his eagle eye, from the width of shop aisles to the height of counters.

So far, he has managed to review 24 different places and services in the city.

The results have been mixed. Boots and the West Yorkshire Playhouse get 10/10, while a local taxi firm scored zero for regularly refusing to stop for him on the street, or drivers complaining during the journey about “having to take wheelchairs”.

After attempting to visit the Topman fashion store it was rated 1/10 as there was “no access if you use a wheelchair as it is upstairs and there are no lifts”

A Topman spokesman said: “Firstly, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to the customer on his visit to Topman and would like to re-assure him this is something we are currently working on.

“At present, Topman are trading in a one level store on Land Lane whilst the old site Briggate Street site is being modernised.

“We have taken disability access in the new Topman Leeds store into account in its re-design and the new store opening on the Briggate Street this autumn will include two customer lifts and a hoist to get between each level of the new store.”

A Boots spokesman said: “We take great care in planning our store layouts to ensure they are easily accessible for our customers.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to enter the shop, find the right product and pay for it quickly and smoothly.

“We consider aspects of the store such as the height of chip and pin machines and the width of our aisles, and make sure there are plenty of store colleagues on hand to offer extra help if needed.”

Sarah Carmody, Nathan’s stepmother, said writing up the results was a hugely time-consuming process for him.

“The information on his website is generally fairly small, about two or three sentences, but just to do that tiny amount himself can take up to two hours as Nathan operates his computer with a foot switch,” she said.

“If Nathan gets tired, he refuses to stop, he just keeps on and on until it’s done.”

Nathan said: “It can take ages but it is worth it.

“I want to make Leeds accessible for everyone.”