We hope the fact that you are reading this page means you’ve already enjoyed exploring our website, and have uncovered some useful information about our work.
We wanted to take this chance to explain a bit about why we have built this website, and what we want it to achieve.
We know (because you have told us) that there is a big need for information, advice and positive stories about
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
out there. We have heard too many stories of parents struggling to get good information when their child is diagnosed with a learning disability, too many stories of whole families feeling isolated and cut off from local info and activities, and from too many people with a learning disability who never see images or stories discussing what having a learning disability is really like directly from those who know.
We want our website to meet our users needs of being able to get clear, useful information on their phones wherever they are - be it in a cafe, creche or GP’s surgery.
To get to this point has taken a lot of
research
Research is a way of finding out information which could come from books, or asking people what they think.
. Like a big swan we have been paddling hard underwater while nothing much seemed to change on the surface. We wanted to make sure that this website would be as useful and as
accessible
Accessible means something is easy for people to use or join in with. For example: Accessible writing means the writing is easy to read and understand.
as possible for you, our audience, so we spent months doing research.
We have reviewed our metrics; looking into what people are searching for.
We asked our visitors what they want from the site, and did some specialist user interviews and
focus groups
Where a group of people meet to talk about a topic, and a researcher asks them some questions.
with people with a learning disability and their family members on what their needs are and what they expect from the Mencap website.
Our ambition is bold
We don’t want our website to just look pretty, we want it to be really useful for our audience, a way for all of us who care about learning disability to connect with each other.
We want to be the go-to website for anyone looking for information on learning disability, anyone wanting to find what’s happening near them and anyone who wants to join with us to fundraise to help make things better here and now, and
campaign
A campaign is when people work together to try to change something.
with us for a better future. We hope you’ll be part of that exciting, important journey with us.
We want to know what you think of it now, so please give us honest feedback on what is working now and where we can improve.
Accessibility
Our website has been designed, developed and tested alongside people with a learning disability, their parents, carers and family members.
We want it to be accessible for everyone, no matter what decide or assistive technology you're using.
Take a look at our web accessibility statement to find out more.