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Dr Hazel McFarlane awarded an MBE

  • Area of Work: The ALLIANCE
  • Type: News Item
  • Published: 20th June 2023
Photo of Dr Hazel McFarlane

The MBE has been given for services to people with sight loss.

We are delighted to announce ALLIANCE Senior Sensory Hub Officer, Hazel McFarlane, has been awarded an MBE for services to people with sight loss.

Hazel has been involved in disability research and activism for over 30 years. In 1991, while a student at university, she was a founding member and president of Student Vision Scotland, an organisation of and for vision impaired students.  During her time there, Hazel led a successful campaign to widen eligibility to disabled students allowance for students in FE.

Hazel joined the Direct Action Network, campaigning for disability rights through civil disobedience, culminating in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 coming into statute – enabling access to legal redress to disabled people for the first time.

Following the total loss of her sight in 2007, where she had to absorb the news in a busy Eye Clinic, she devised a proposal to set up a Vision Support Service in Ayrshire. RNIB Scotland gained funding and this first, patient-led initiative came into being in 2010, in Ayr and Crosshouse University Hospitals. RNIB went on to roll out this service model across the UK.

Hazel was the president of Troon Tortoises, from 2012 – 2015, a local running club she joined six months after the total loss of her sight. As president, she organised the club’s Annual 10K, the largest, mid-week 10K in Scotland, attracting 1,400 runners. Hazel ran her first Marathon in London in 2010, raising £8,000 for British Blind Sports and completed a double Marathon in 2013, running 56 miles from Glasgow to Edinburgh, raising £2,500 for the RNIB Eye Clinic Support Service.

Hazel’s contribution to improving access to services and inclusion of people with sight loss, was acknowledged in 2019, when she was included in the Disability Power List of the 100 most influential disabled people in the UK.

Photo of Dr Hazel McFarlane

Hazel said she “is utterly delighted to have been awarded a MBE in the King’s first Birthday Honours List”.

Sara Redmond, Chief Officer of Development at the ALLIANCE said:

“On behalf of the ALLIANCE, we are delighted that Hazel has received this recognition for her long standing work to campaign and influence change in order to ensure that barriers are removed and people living with sensory loss are able to realise their rights. 

Hazel is always fully focused on ensuring that people with lived experience can participate in decisions which impact their lives and this award is recognition of this achievements and contributions.”

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