COLIN BACKS DISABILITY ACCESS CAMPAIGN

Midlothian North and Musselburgh MSP Colin Beattie has given his backing to Euan’s Guide – a website which reviews the disabled access standards of local venues – and encouraged people across Midlothian to use the site to review local bars, restaurants and other venues.

The website was started by Euan McDonald – who suffers from Motor Neuron Disease – in a bid to share information on disabled access with other people with accessibility needs – and now boasts Stephen Hawking and JK Rowling as celebrity backers.

SNP MSP Christina McKelvie welcomed Euan to an event at the Scottish Parliament this week – which saw MSPs hear from 130 people involved with disability access issues.

Commenting, Colin said:

“This is a fantastic initiative which can make a real difference to the social lives of disabled people across Scotland, as well as their friends and families.

“Disabled people often face challenges in accessing everyday venues which most people don’t have to think twice about – with proper information about disabled facilities often being a process of trial and error.

“Euan’s Guide is looking to change that and provide a reliable portal for information on disabled access for venues across Scotland – which would help disabled people across the country enjoy access to the bars, restaurants and cinemas which most people take for granted. 

“I would encourage people across the constituency to contribute to the website and rate local venues – and make a real difference to the quality of life of disabled people in our community.”

Founder of Euan’s Guide, Euan McDonald, said:

“Following years of investigating, me and my family have built up something akin to a local directory on disabled access that we were keen to share with others with accessibility needs. And then we thought that there must be thousands if not millions of people who have the same issues that we do so we decided to take this a step further and create a site that will benefit the whole disabled community.”