Happy 7th Birthday Euan’s Guide

27/11/2020

2020 marks our 7th birthday. We'll be marking our 7th Anniversary across the next 7 days. Kicking things off we have this message from Tina, our London Ambassador.

Happy 7th birthday Euan’s Guide’s, here’s 3 things I love about you:

1. Finding Fun, Accessible Places

Euan’s Guide helps take the stress out of finding fun, accessible places to visit. If I’m thinking of going somewhere new, I’ll check to see if there are any Euan’s Guide reviews beforehand. It’s reassuring to know what other disabled people have said about access and most of the reviews listed are really positive. They also include thoughtful and helpful comments and photographs, which I don’t find elsewhere. This makes me feel reassured about visiting somewhere new, and if the review also mentions the venue serves home-made cakes that’s an added bonus too.

2. Making New Friends

An unexpected delight of Euan’s Guide has been the friendships I have made. Euan’s Guide has a lively online community. Reading the reviews is like your disabled friend giving you an honest low down about a venue they’ve just visited. You trust their judgement. This year, the Euan’s Guide Forum was launched to support disabled people at home during covid. It’s full of great suggestions from online theatre and other events, book and podcast recommendations, recipes to try out, to music and puzzles to keep you entertained. Reading and writing reviews and sharing makes me feel part of this amazing online community.

Through being the London Ambassador, I’ve enjoyed meeting up and making friends with other Ambassadors both in person and online. Last year was wonderful to attend the Ambassadors summer meet up. We started out at eating pizza and brainstorming access ideas at Euan’s Guide HQ, then went out for dinner and spent the evening at the Edinburgh Book Festival. This year we’ve had regular zoom meetings with quizzes, parties, themed hackathons and catch ups, in a very friendly and supportive environment and this has really helped me get through the isolation of shielding on my own.

Dolly the Sheep in a glass case at The National Museum of Scotland, Tina is pictured on the right standing next to the exhibit.

Image of: Tina next to Dolly the Sheep at The National Museum of Scotland from her trip to Edinburgh in 2019.

3. Developing My Confidence

I discovered Euan’s Guide in 2016, shortly after I became disabled. Being newly disabled the world felt very scary, all of a sudden, every new journey outside the home had to be researched and planned beforehand. Euan’s Guide helped me find accessible places and gave me the confidence to visit them. In turn I tried to give something back by writing my own reviews. I was Reviewer of the Year in 2017 and, since 2018, their London Ambassador. Through my role, I’ve had the opportunity to be on the radio and write blogs, including some of the Voices from Covid series and represent Euan’s Guide at various events, including having an action-packed itinerary on the last Disabled Access Day. I’m proud to be a small part of this.

Thank you Euan’s Guide for being so special and I wish you a very happy 7th birthday.