8.3 Learning disability nursing

Learning disability nurses may work in any setting where people with a learning disability live, work or learn. This may be in ‘community teams’, residential settings, schools, workplaces, clinics and in hospitals, helping people with a learning disability to access the services they need. Many learning disability nurses work with multidisciplinary teams in local communities, supporting those with a learning disability to live their lives to the full. In this field, nurses could work with children or adults helping them to become as independent as they can be and live fulfilled lives. Often people with learning disabilities are discriminated against and nurses may need to advocate for the people in their care and their families.

Watch Video 9 that shows some of reasons why people might choose learning disability nursing.

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Transcript: Video 9

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SPEAKER:

Did you know that there are over 1.5 million people with learning disabilities in the UK? What is a learning disability? It affects the way a person understands information and how they communicate. It affects people for their whole lives. And those with learning disabilities need a unique approach to care. They need people who think a little differently.

Learning disability nurses have one of the most varied, exciting, and life changing careers in health care. You might think nursing means uniforms and often the same routine, but learning disability nursing is not like that. Every day is different.

Learning disability nurses have to use a huge range of skills and talents. Sometimes they're investigators, trying to discover what's wrong and why. Other times they're activists, championing the rights of the people they support. They're discoverers, finding new imaginative ways to deliver care, and creatives who'll always look at things differently.

Learning disability nurses work with people from all backgrounds, from all ages, in all surroundings, and across many different places. They're a force for social good, often working with the most marginalized and disadvantaged in society.

People with learning disabilities sometimes have needs that are overlooked. But from simple everyday things to setting up life changing support for those in their care, learning disability nurses transform lives, and the UK needs a lot more of them. A lot more people willing to do an amazing job. A lot more people willing to take a different path.

So do you value equality and human rights? Do you want to fight injustice? Can you look deeper than the surface? And do you want to do something different every day? Then look no further. Learning disability nursing, dare to take a different path.

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End transcript: Video 9

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Video 9