Euan’s Guide

Euan’s Guide is the disabled access charity that is making the world more accessible one review at a time. At the heart of the charity is the disabled access review website, EuansGuide.com, the go-to online resource written by disabled people for disabled people, where they can find and share information about a location’s and venue’s disabled access. The team’s work this year has been massively impacted by Covid. The majority of its community are at high-risk and shielding and the team have been actively keeping in touch with them by adapting its services to what they require.During the crisis, the Euan’s Guide team have used technology to:

• Quickly build and launch an effective stand-alone forum to combat social isolation so its community stays connected and shares information on, for example, home working, equipment and new ways to socialise.
• Replace all in-person meet-ups with virtual events including quizzes, socials and peer-to-peer advice sharing. This will be continued with a programme of virtual events after the crisis.
• Develop a series of blog articles entitled “Voice of Covid” giving disabled people a platform to have their voice heard. This is particularly important as disabled people’s voices are often underrepresented in mainstream media.
• Develop and launch its ‘Covid Confident’ functionality on the website. Enabling disabled people to know what Covid precautions venues have implemented before they visit to make it easier to plan a trip.
• Create and distribute free “Face Mask Exempt” badges to make people who are exempt feel comfortable visiting places where face coverings are required. Over 10,000 badges were requested in the first three weeks alone, leading the team to create downloadable resources that people can use instantly. There was a real and growing concern about the possible hostility towards people who are not able to wear a face covering in public spaces. With this simple badge, the team hopes that people who are unable to wear face coverings can feel less isolated and more confident with its “Face Mask Exempt” badges.