White Rose Shopping Centre appoints Hannah Cockroft as its accessibility ambassador

The White Rose Shopping Centre has announced that the T34 Paralympic wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft MBE has been appointed as its accessibility ambassador to coincide with this year’s Purple Tuesday.

Born in Halifax, Ms Cockroft holds five Paralympic gold medals, as well as multiple world records and world championship titles. She is also a regular shopper at the White Rose.

A spokesman said: "As accessibility ambassador she’ll be working alongside the team at the shopping centre to discuss, brainstorm and plan ways in which the centre can improve their accessibility even further.

Purple Tuesday, the UK’s accessible shopping day, is taking place on 3 November. This year, White Rose is highlighting the measures currently in place to raise awareness of the needs of disabled customers.

Ms Cockroft said “ I am delighted to be working with White Rose as their accessibility ambassador. I love coming to the shopping centre as it's a total breeze to get around, and you can tell that they care about the accessibility needs of their shoppers.

"I can’t wait to start working with the team to improve accessibility even further, so that every customer visiting White Rose has an enjoyable experience.”

The White Rose has implemented a number of measures to make it more accessible, including the provision of free hidden disability lanyards to signify that extra help may be required by the wearer.

Anyone with a ‘hidden disability’ is invited to wear the lanyards, which can be picked up free during White Rose’s drop in session or from customer services.

This year White Rose will also be taking part in Purple Tuesday by hosting a drop-in area in the Central Atrium from 10am to 6pm, inviting visitors to stop by and provide their feedback and thoughts on accessibility at White Rose.

Steven Foster, Centre Director said “We are committed to making sure that all visitors to White Rose are able to have a positive and enjoyable experience so we’re really delighted to be involved with Purple Tuesday again this year.

"We are constantly working to ensure that shopping at White Rose is an inclusive experience for all and hope that our measures will raise awareness of the challenges that disabled customers can face when out shopping."