Manchester’s Christmas Markets bring in thousands of pounds to the city. They can bring in hoards of punters, too.
But for some people, they present a wave of problems. Those in mobility scooters, powerchairs, and wheelchairs ‘avoid’ the markets due to a litany of worries about trying to have fun at the city’s top festive destination.
For the International Day of Persons with Disabilities , the Manchester Evening News toured the main drag of the stalls — along Market Street — with four disabled people at different times this week to understand the challenges they face in trying to navigate the markets. The results were illuminating.
READ MORE: The ultimate guide to Christmas events for kids in Manchester 2022
From challenges in simply trying to get down the street, to difficulties reaching a contactless card reader, and trouble to be seen by an ever-expanding crowd of people — it was a trying experience for our four volunteers. To make matters worse, it is an episode which they said is not confined to Market Street, the Markets, or even just Manchester.
“I find it nerve-racking”
On Friday (December 2), three volunteers agreed to go out with the MEN’s reporter and photographer following an event celebrating International Disability Day at the Central Library. None of them were relishing the experience — but felt it was important to highlight their troubles.
“I haven't been to the markets this year,” Heather Davidson explained as she approached Piccadilly Gardens. “I’ve thought about going — but for the same reason I only pop into town for an afternoon is that I have got a couple of injuries — so I cannot rely on myself to be cheerful and happy enough.”
Heather, 33, is the chair of the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People (GMCDP). She lives in Weaste, and is a powerchair user, due to her cerebral palsy, and two spinal fusion replacements.
Heather also has ADHD, autism, and social anxiety. Events like the Markets are not usually something she plans on going.
“Being in an electric wheelchair has its benefits, but you need to wear a pointy hat sometimes,” she continued. “My bell is useless. It’s like I cannot really enjoy myself.”
Behind her, in convoy, are Katy Daly and Josh Woodworth. The pair are a couple, and both have cerebral palsy.
While Katy, 25, uses a powerchair similar to Heather, Josh, 31, is in a mobility scooter. As soon becomes apparent, the challenges for Josh can vary dramatically compared to his partner.
Despite knowing that a visit to the markets can be a trial, Katy enjoys visiting — if the time is right. “It’s Christmassy and pretty,” she smiled. “I want to come again. It’s something different, it’s not here all year.
“There are a lot of people. You know there’s going to be, so you try and time when to go. I would go earlier in the day [than this].”
Starting at the Piccadilly Gardens end, the plan initially was to go down Market Street, then carry on to King Street via St Ann’s Square. However, it became apparent very soon that there was not going to be enough time to take that route.
“I have to be extremely careful”
Market Street is packed. It’s just after 4pm on Friday and offices were emptying, light was draining, and shoppers were coming out.
The three wheelchair users travelled slowly — because they had to. On a street narrowed by stalls, people on their feet are popping up everywhere. As soon as a gap between a lamppost and a wall opened up, barely wide enough for Katy’s powerchair, it was filled by someone storming past with shopping bags.
In the chaos, the trio were calm. In a stop-start operation, Katy and Heather led the way. Josh, in the longer and less agile vehicle, followed their path.
“It can be terrible if people look at their phones,” the Master’s student said. “I have to be extremely careful. Stopping is especially bad at the markets… [but] we have to stop and try and keep single file — if we are side by side we can block the street.
“Even though it’s nicer in the evening, I would avoid it because there’s so many people. We are always looking out for kids and dogs. This [scooter] is very heavy. If it rolls over a foot or child or dog, we will injure them.”
In what seemed like a counter-intuitive sentence, Josh explained how the onus is on him to avoid others, not on those with more ability to dodge and weave. He went on: “I do find it nerve racking.
“If people are looking at their phones you have to say ‘woah!’ to get their attention. I am responsible if I hurt someone because they are classed as vehicles. You have to take that into consideration.” It means that Josh, in the past, has turned up to Piccadilly Gardens — only to turn around and head home because of the crowds, which he said would be ‘too dangerous’.
It took 25 minutes to go from Primark to the bottom end of Market Street, under the Arndale food court. Even during the busiest times of December, it would usually take an able bodied person no more than 10 minutes to walk down.
“I have been hit by people with shopping bags loads”
One journey down Market Street was enough to convince the MEN’s volunteers to stop for a break. Alongside 25 minutes to go half a mile, there’s an additional element at play, too: how mentally draining it is to keep up the levels of concentration and second-guessing required to keep one’s chair moving.
A coffee shop was therefore selected. Even then, there was no let-up.
“I find queues difficult,” Heather said as she joined the back of the line “The person in front of me can make me nervous. I have to stop and start. Then the person at the counter might not see me. Can I reach the card machine to pay?”
Reaching the card machine is not the only issue one can have in a minefield, as Heather, Katy, and Josh revealed in the next few seconds. There’s a swathe of questions all three need to run through just to get a hot drink.
“Will I have to give my phone to a stranger?,” Katy said. “Will my contactless work? Can I remember my PIN if I need to use it?,” Heather mentioned.
Getting a drink is one thing, enjoying it is another, as Josh highlighted. He said: “After all that, can you get around the table? I need an exit plan too.”
“There are so many places we know exactly where to go in and where to go out,” Katy agreed. Even worse, Heather added, a lack of suitable tables means sometimes, she has to ask people to move.
“At certain times, we have to ask people to move from their table — because it’s the one table I can fit in with a friend,” she said. Then, the conversation was interrupted.
The three wheelchair users were asked by a security guard to leave the queue, and wait at a table or further inside the coffee shop while the MEN’s able-bodied reporter ordered for them. All three refused.
“I am not my wheelchair,” Heather reflected after the interaction. “A poorly designed environment is not my responsibility.”
“That’s typical for a weekend or Bank Holiday, yes,” Heather replied, Toblerone Latte in hand, when asked if the journey on Market Street was a fair reflection of a busy day in Manchester. “With the Christmas Markets, it changes the way people move,” she added.
The fact that the excruciatingly slow progress is typical, Josh said, means he and other disabled people change their plans. He explained: “We plan or move things to avoid those times and go midweek or go early in the day.
“Today is a Friday and going to the markets would not be my first choice. I have been hit by people with shopping bags loads.”
Katy added: “My wheelchair cannot go sideways. People look at us expecting us to move but what am I supposed to do?”
“I would never come”
As busy as Friday afternoon was, Saturday lunchtime (December 3) was just as packed. Vania Burnell agreed to do the same route as Katy, Heather, and Josh did — but wouldn’t choose to be here, except to highlight her difficulties in getting around.
Vania, 52, has a central nerve function disease, which stops signals from her brain travelling down the long nerve in her spine. Effectively, it means she cannot control the left-hand side of her body, and is only able to walk based on muscle memory.
Today, she uses a four-wheeled walking frame, having used a walking stick and a three wheeled rollator beforehand. She’s joined by her partner Darren Pack, and son Shaun.
“I would never come,” Vania explained as the MEN party set off. “This would be a complete no-no, it’s too tiring for me. I get too tired too quickly.
“It’s lovely but it’s too stressful — I can’t relax because I’m on the outlook. Those [loose] cobbles there are too unsafe [with the walker]. I can’t get on the cobbles because I’ve fallen many a time with this — so I can’t really get close to the stalls. The cobbles are lovely for history but they are not very disabled friendly.”
It was a similar story for Vania as it was the trio the day previously. She had to try and navigate gaps which were barely wide enough for rollator, and was constantly scanning ahead for people changing paths and stopping altogether.
“What gets me is people on their phones — I asked that woman to move and she was ‘ooooh’ — but I had to stop for her. That’s the trouble I face,” she summarised.
“I used to love walking around here looking at these but the enjoyment has gone out of it. Having a disability means you’re mindful of what you can and can’t do.”
As Vania was explaining her predicament, an all-too-real example of the challenges she — and other disabled people — face reared its head. The wheel of her walker turned, and got jammed in a loose cobblestone.
It meant that the rollator stopped, but Vania didn’t. She got off lightly this time, being jabbed with her handle. Usually, such a jam would mean she would fall over, she explained after regaining her balance.
Incidents like that, and people unaware of their surroundings meant Vania was nervous about her time in town. She said: “Looking around I’m getting anxious. I would be lost with Darren and Shaun.”
That, perhaps, is the most immediately obvious feeling one gets having spent time with disabled people — the anxiety of choice.
As Josh said, there’s an anxiety in choosing a quiet time to visit. There’s an anxiety in paying for everyday items for Katy.
Heather has anxieties over if she can socialise in a way which most of us take for granted. Vania has anxieties over how her disability affects her family.
All in all, in the hours the MEN spent with the four disabled volunteers, it became clear that the challenges they face are not ones created by their mobility difficulties — they are created by poor design, inconsiderate behaviour, and an unwillingness to adapt.
Following the MEN's publication of the volunteers' experiences, Manchester City Council's Christmas Markets spokesperson promised the authority would 'act' on the issues highlighted. Coun Pat Karney, also the City Centre Spokesperson, tweeted: "We will act on this important report.
"Nobody should be left out enjoying what most of us take for granted. We will discuss this report across departments in the Town Hall."
Read more of today's top stories here
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