If you are in a new town how do you know if a place is accessible. Do you call ahead? Do you ask friends?

This week we met with the team behind Euan’s Guide a new website designed to take the guesswork out of accessibility issues.

Calling all Bespoken members…

Hi, I’m Euan. Can you help me and millions of others find fun, friendly accessible venues to visit?

Despite being in a wheelchair due to Motor Neurone Disease, I still want to go out to bars, restaurants, hotels, cinemas, music festivals, sports grounds etc. I'm always looking for new places to go out to but can only find out if access is suitable through a process of trial and error.

Following years of investigating, myself 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* of people who have the same issues that we do so we decided to take this a step further and create a website that will benefit the whole disabled community.

The website will feature impartial, user-generated accessibility reviews and recommendations for venues nationwide, assisting all individuals with accessibility needs and the people they spend time with.

Hotels, restaurants, bars, leisure facilities, cinemas & theatres, visitor attractions and many others will have the opportunity to demonstrate their accessibility credentials, with genuine customers providing feedback on their experience and promoting venues with great accessibility attributes. These reviews will establish a knowledge bank that potential users can search, filter and use to assist in planning their visit.

The site’s goal is to provide a friendly, honest & empowering alternative to hours of web searching and phone calls and most importantly removing the ‘fear of the unknown’ when visiting a venue for the first time.

We hope to launch Euan's Guide in the Autumn but there's a lot to do before then & I need your help to do this.

I’m asking you to visit www.EuansGuide.com/review.aspx and submit 5 accessibility reviews of favourite places that you’ve visited (they should only take a few minutes).

And then it would be great if you could tell 5 people about EuansGuide.com and ask them to submit 5 reviews too…

Thanks very much for reading - now get reviewing!

Euan MacDonald

PS Needless to say we welcome your thoughts, please feel free to get in touch with us with any ideas or feedback you may have.

* It would actually appear there are millions - 11 million people are registered with a disability in the UK (VisitScotland) and there are over 6.5 million carers in the UK alone (Carers Week)

Photo: Euan MacDonald at Hibs Stadium. Accessibility for Hibs Stadium? “The roof doesn't quiet reach over wheelchair spots in East Stand… Wide doors for disabled access… Always helpful staff there to assist…”

To go to the Euan’s Guide website click here.