Accept It, Accept Me! – A public awareness campaign

The Client

The Hand in Hand Foundation launched its new campaign ’Accept It, Accept Me!’ to draw public attention to people living with mental or multiple disabilities, to improve their everyday life and increase their public acceptance. 

Challenge

The number of disabled peple in Hungary is over 500,000, out of which nearly 60,000 live with mental and multiple disabilities. Our task was to use special communication tools in order to increase the public acceptance of disabled people. Although there has been a significant improvement in healthy people’s attitudes, handicapped people are still often discriminated and their daily struggles are unknown.

Our most important target groups were young people and families with children. Young people are still free of prejudices. Families – while becoming more tolerant – can teach their kids about acceptance.

The essence of our concept was: to provide the opportunity for personal meetings. We arranged integrated programmes, where healthy and disabled people could play and have fun together, so they could learn about each other.

Our special challenge was to find a high quality but cost-efficient solution. 

ST Scope’s solution

A county-wide road show with a special truck. 

The 2010 campaign started with a Family Day in Budapest and then went on a county road show between May and the end of September. Its symbol and integrated element was the special truck equipped with an exhibition, a cinema corner and computer games.

’Together’ has been a key notion in the idea and implementation of the campaign since its early start. Let healthy and handicapped people play and have fun together. Let them meet in person, realize each other’s values, so the social walls built on the basis of prejudices, ignorance, negligence and fear would fall down.

Campaign destinations are usually put out to special tenders focusing on integrated programmes and a full family day to complete the mission of our truck. All civil organizations, local or church institutions are welcome to tender in trilateral cooperation with one regular public institution (school, library, community centre etc.) and one institution serving handicapped children or adults.   

Feedback is especially important for us to be able to renew and personalize our campaign year after year. We asked visitors about their views about the programmes and to fill in a form. 

Achievements

The Accept It, Accept Me! campaign with its satellite programmes have gained an increasing popularity for the past few years, attracting over 100,000 visitors per year: regulars, kids from schools and nursery schools, young and elderly people as well as families. In 2010 93.3% of respondents gave a positive feedback, and 74.3% told to have benefitted from the campaign and gathered new information. We inform the public by means of TV and Radio spots, interviews, banners, posters, information leaflets, advertisements and a video blog. Our truck has covered over 19,000 kilometres and reached nearly 70 settlements so far.