Euan MacDonald MBE is the co-founder of Euan’s Guide, the disabled access charity making it easier for disabled people to find great places to go with confidence.  

Since being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in 2003, Euan has experienced being ambulant disabled, a wheelchair user, and now a powerchair user who communicates with eye-gaze technology. The challenges he faced in terms of disabled access are what motivated him to create Euan’s Guide in 2013.  

Euan’s main priority was to tackle the problem of accessible information being misleading, inaccurate, or simply non-existent. Before Euan’s Guide, Euan found everyday tasks like shopping, or meeting a friend for coffee were becoming impossible. Researching places before visiting became an essential first step in making plans. So, he set up Euan’s Guide with his sister Kiki to avoid other disabled people spending hours researching venues, locations and attractions. 

Over the years Euan’s Guide has become a place for people to share their knowledge of accessible bars, restaurants, shops, hotels and many more places. Their award-winning website aims to be a friendly, honest and empowering alternative to hours of web searching and phone calls before visiting somewhere new, in turn providing users with the confidence to try new places.  

Euan is also founder of the Euan MacDonald Centre (2007) based at the University of Edinburgh, a not-for-profit, internationally recognised network of 200 scientists and professionals researching MND across Scotland. He also launched SpeakUnique in 2012, a service that creates personalised synthetic voices for individuals who have lost or will lose the ability to speak.