Ruby McDonald is a 20-year-old from Fife who is passionate about disability sport, volunteering and making a difference to others. She is delighted to have been selected for a second three-year opportunity on the Scottish Disability Sport Young People’s Sports Panel, where she hopes to continue being a voice for people with disabilities and help shape the future of disability sport in Scotland.

Ruby believes sport is for everyone. It doesn’t have to be about winning medals or being the best — it can be about having fun, making friends, improving health and simply being your best. She has taken part in swimming, athletics, archery, para football and surfing, and is now also a para football coach, sharing her experiences and encouraging others to get involved.

Volunteering is equally important to Ruby. She volunteers with Glenrothes Strollers Football Club, Fife College and her former primary school, and recently began volunteering in the DAS Unit at her old high school, supporting teenagers with additional needs in a place that played an important role in her own life.

Ruby has a learning disability, but she refuses to let it define what she can achieve. Over the past three years, she has received numerous awards, including Scotland’s Unsung Hero, a British Citizen Youth Award, a Variety Game Changer Medal, Scottish Student Sport Volunteer of the Year, Youth Volunteer of the Year and the UK Youth Sports Advocate of the Year Award.

She has also had opportunities to meet inspirational people, including sporting heroes and the King and Queen, and has represented disability sport at national events.

Ruby hopes to become a PSA after leaving college and wants to continue supporting others through sport and volunteering. For her, the awards are not about trophies — they are about the opportunities to raise awareness, inspire others and show that people with disabilities can have hopes, dreams and ambitions.

Ruby’s message is simple: “If you believe in yourself, anything is possible.”