Mencap

Winner of Charity Times’ Website of the Year 2008, Mencap.org.uk gives voice to people with a learning disability and reaches out to parents, many of whom are desperately unsupported.

Through focus groups with Mencap’s audiences, Public Life established their key needs.

People with a learning disability expressed a preference for TV over all other media, so online video was a natural choice their accessibility needs. Video also provided a great way of empowering disabled people to have a voice and to present their own lives and priorities to the world.

Research with parents showed that many of them were in real need for support themselves as carers. These insights were incorporated into the design and structure of the site.

Video provided a great way of empowering people with learning disability to have a voice and to present their own lives and priorities to the user.

Parents represent the primary supporter base for Mencap, so encouraging parents to make this their charity of choice was a key part of designing an appropriate tone and supporting materials.

Within six months of going live the website saw a 56% increase in unique visits, a 39% increase in online donations, 2,500 video views and 9,000 publications downloaded.