A HEREFORD woman who is severely visually impaired is working hard to challenge attitudes – by leading ramblers using Braille instructions.

Marika Kovacs, 50, started walking with Herefordshire Ramblers back in the summer of 2012 but soon decided she would like to take on more of a leading role.

Born with a type of glaucoma which means she can only see things if they are very close to her, Ms Kovacs has now led nine walks and hopes she can continue to prove that those with disabilities are no less able than others.

She said: "One day I wondered if I would be able to lead a walk and I spoke the chairman of Herefordshire Ramblers about it.

"I thought we could write the walk down and it kind of started from that. We put it on a dictaphone and then thought we would get it written up and transcribed into Braille."

Ms Kovacs is usually joined by others to guide her away from any potential dangers but once her route is written down she works hard to commit it to memory, then uses the Braille instructions to guide her if necessary.

"You do find in life if you have a disability – whether its blindness or being in a wheelchair or anything else – whenever you want to do something particularly challenging to that disability people will try and steer you away and will try to find reasons to prevent you from doing things," she said.

"I have had quite a few experiences where people say ‘you can’t do that because we are not covered on our insurance' but I have always found the Ramblers to be very positive about what I want to do."