CorpComms Magazine

Four years ago, when Extras was barely a blip on his imagination radar, Ricky Gervais wrote and directed his first film. It lasted minutes and aired for less than a month at the cinema, yet its impact was incredible. It was hailed as one of the best cinema advertisements of all time, and within days it had resulted in a 500 percent traffic increase to the employment site for disabled jobseekers it was promoting.

'It was very funny,' recalls Judith Barnard, director of communications at charity Leonard Cheshire, which supported the site. 'Ricky Gervais played a blue-collar worker who was asked whether he would ever employ a disabled person.'

Gervais' character claims that he would, but perhaps not blind people because there's 'no point... useless... dog's no use to you in here either, they can't... grip'; he's also averse to 'little wheelchair ones' because 'they knock things over'. In typically cringeworthy style, he runs through a list of ridiculous reasons not to employ people, ending with a glance across his factory colleagues and the question: 'Is ugly a disability?'

'We are challenging people's attitudes towards disability,' explains Barnard. 'We know that people say and think things just like Ricky's character would, but we used that fact to great comic effect and to really challenge their thinking.'

All change

Prior to Barnard's appointment four years ago, the communications director also had responsibility for fundraising. Today, these are separate roles. 'There is tension between these responsibilities,' she explains. 'When you're raising money, it's easy to evoke feelings of pity. But when you're communicating a message, disabled people don't want to be portrayed as victims.'

Barnard, who also has responsibility for policy, volunteer support and internal communications, has embarked on a strategic review. 'We want our organisation to live and breathe a common message,' she says. 'Leonard Cheshire was founded almost 60 years ago and is an organisation that has experienced organic change. We needed to look at who we are, what we do and the services we provide.'

She adds, however, that before thinking about external communications, the internal situation had to be addressed. 'We thought a lot about benefits and support, such as appraisals and training, and developed caring as a career,' she says. Today staff turnover is 17 percent, against an industry average of 25 percent. What's more, the Sunday Times selected Leonard Cheshire as one of the top 20 companies to work for, making it the only charity to win such an accolade.

Leonard Cheshire employs 8,000 staff and 3,000 volunteers. Some 20,000 clients use its services, which range from respite care to employment training. It also provides residential services, often on behalf of local authorities that pay the charity £120 mn every year. A further £13 mn comes from donations and investments.

'There is always the battle to achieve the fees that it costs us to provide services,' admits Barnard. 'There is a danger that localauthorities think of us as a cheap option. We are cost-effective because we are a not-for-profit organisation, but our work for local authorities is not subsidised by our charitable donations. Donors would feel cheated.'

High flyer

Leonard Cheshire, a former RAF pilot who received the Victoria Cross for his 'sustained courage and outstanding effort' during World War II, founded the eponymous charity in 1948. He was the official UK observer of the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki, an event that changed his life and led him to leave the RAF.

Shortly afterwards, Cheshire learned that an acquaintance, Arthur Dykes, was terminally ill. Cheshire invited Dykes to stay at his house, Le Court in Hampshire, and nursed him until he died, by which time 23 other people had moved in and were being cared for by the RAF veteran.

Today, only one in five people under 35 recognise the name Leonard Cheshire. Despite the fact that it represents one of the country's biggest charities, an even smaller number associate

the name with support for disabled people. It is a conundrum that Barnard is determined to solve, and a relaunch is scheduled for next year.

'We are undertaking a review to find a better way of expressing what we do. We need to make our name work with disability,' she explains. 'When we relaunch, we want to promote our values and issues, which are all about changing society's attitude to disability. We are looking at a whole range of things, from campaigning to education in schools. The future must be more than just about social care - it is about promoting disabled people's rights, needs and aspirations.'

It is a challenge to which Barnard, 40, is well suited. Prior to joining Leonard Cheshire, she was director of policy and public affairs at the National Autistic Society (NAS), with a mandate to 'put autism on the map'. 'The biggest opportunity came with the debate about MMR, which we used to explain what autism was,' she says. 'We made a huge push into government circles, setting up the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism. This was chaired by Dr Stephen Ladyman, who later became social care minister.

'We thought pretty carefully about the issues before tackling government and harnessing media,' Barnard continues. 'We generated spin-offs such as features on understanding autism. There was a clarity to our message.' Barnard intends to use the skills she honed at the NAS to tackle 'the taboo surrounding disability'.

Carrying the torch

Cheshire 'committed his life to great humanitarian work' and, as a result, more than 250 organisations in 50 countries use all or part of his name. 'They were inspired by him,' says Barnard. 'That global alliance gives us a tremendous platform to share ideas on good practice or tackling governments and, through a cross-regional approach, we may be eligible for World Bank funding. We can work to change people's thinking abroad.'

Barnard believes that the current review will actually bring the organisation closer to the true roots of Leonard Cheshire's intention. 'He was a visionary who wanted to constantly evolve and meet changing needs,' she enthuses. 'He was a pioneer. The organisation was the first provider of community-based services in one's own home.

'It is easy to rest on our laurels and say we are the largest provider of support services in the UK, but then we only look after 20,000 people,' Barnard continues. 'There are 11 mn disabled people in the UK and 600 mn worldwide; we don't look so big compared to those numbers. Our work needs to have an impact on millions of people's lives. That's what Leonard Cheshire would have wanted.'

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