The Exeter Branch of Ataxia UK took ataxia to the city in June, raising awareness and funds by:
- Hosting a medical training seminar to improve the healthcare world’s recognition of ataxia in Devon and Cornwall
- Splashing posters over the city buses and rail platforms of Exeter’s rail stations
- Creating and distributing print materials for GPs and clinics across both counties
- Holding fundraising events all month
- Being trained by BBC’s Trevor Barnes to speak to the press, radio and on television
- Starring in a promotional film to be distributed to the press.
Our YouGov poll in 2012 showed that only 10% of the UK population had heard of ataxia; our last city-based awareness campaign in Birmingham brought that number up from 7%. In June 2017, we did the same in Exeter to see that number rise again. And we did: holding another survey, we discovered that local awareness of ataxia rose to 41% following the campaign.
Posters on local city buses
