The National Autistic Society

The challenge
The National Autistic Society (NAS) exists to change the world for people with autism and Asperger syndrome. Their research showed that a third of adults with an autism spectrum condition currently live without a job or benefits – and that new legislation and processes replacing Incapacity Benefit would potentially make the system even more perplexing and inaccessible.

So the NAS approached the Good Agency to help develop a proposition and identity for a new campaign. It’s not a simple subject, however. The issue is not just about benefits. Neither is it about employment. It’s about making sure the Department of Work and Pensions provides the right support to those who can work (to help them find a job); and financial support to those who can’t (to help them live). A range of needs had to be addressed under a single banner.

The strategy
Nobody profits from a society where people with autism are written off. We want to see them written in instead. We were shocked by the way adults with autism are treated by the system and determined to create a campaign that expressed their capabilities and frustrations in a powerful way that would decision-makers.

So the Don’t Write Me Off campaign is lead by real people, using their experiences with the system to incite community and political interest and engagement in their cause.

We delivered an integrated strategy stemming from an online campaign hub to a tool kit for campaigners to call on MPs to pledge their support. The campaign materials comprised a detailed Campaign Report, country-specific guides for the UK, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, MP pledge cards, and a moving campaign film featuring the personalities of the campaign.

We also helped the NAS to design and run a launch event at the House of Commons to directly reach MP’s and ask them to pledge their support.

Creative
Political cartoons have been used to point out and satirise injustices for hundreds of years. They also allow complex issues and stories to be dealt with in an engaging way. The distinctive creative combined political cartoons with real case studies, so that we could give the cartoons a solid grounding in reality.

What’s good about it?

The interactive map on the www.dontwritemeoff.org.uk website shows that 143 MPs signed up to endorse the campaign in the first week since its launch on 13th October. And that number’s continuing to grow.

We’re hoping Don’t Write Me Off will be yet another success in the efforts of an organisation that’s proved incredibly effective at engaging the political class.