LEARNING DISABILITIES IN NURSING

Introduction

In the United Kingdom, the lives of people with learning disabilities have been adversely affected by the way society perceives them. It is indeed a sad affair to note that most of these attitudes have been negative and that persons with learning disabilities have been hindered from exploiting their full potential because of these attitudes. However, there is considerable evidence to indicate that these attitudes are changing and that the field of nursing must embrace this particular reform as a matter of practice. The essay shall look at manifestations of learning disabilities, social attitudes and the importance of health care in this regard.

Definition of the term learning disability and the prevalence of the condition
Different countries have different definitions or understandings of the term learning disability. In the United Kingdom, the term learning disability was adopted so as to eliminate the biases that were associated with the use of the word ‘mentally handicapped’. In other countries such as the United States, the term learning disability denotes all the problems that are associated with a particular learning challenge or problem. Other experts have argued that learning disabilities do not reflect the accuracy of the condition and claim that intellectual disability should be the preferred term. In the field of education, the use of mild or severe learning disabilities is also used to reflect on the legal aspects of the issue as pertains to learning. (HCC, 2008)

Regardless of these arguments, it is imperative to first understand the history and meaning of these terminologies so as to place the matter in context. As far back as the mid twentieth Century, the National Health Services created different terminologies to reflect differing attitudes towards healthcare. In this regard, they created a situation in which institutions meant for the mentally handicapped then changed to become hospitals. This was in order to ensure that the aspect of care given to patients was taken into consideration. At that time, the term mentally handicapped was applicable.

Shortly after, the UK parliament passed a piece of legislation known as the Mental Health Act. The purpose of this Act was to distinguish between mentally handicapped persons and people who were mentally ill. In the year 1971, many critics claimed that mentally ill patients were subjected to appalling conditions and that the government needed to respond to those conditions. With this in mind, the government published a white paper that summarised the need for care in the communal context for the mentally ill.

In the year 1980, the concept of normalisation was introduced into the mental health context. Here, the normalisation theory affirms that every individual needs to receive as much health care support as they require and that certain institutions were coming in the way of this. Patients needed to realise their utmost potential and in order to achieve this, there was a need to treat them as individuals within their own right. (HCC, 2008)

Given the latter background, it is now safe to look at the definition of learning disability. A learning disability refers to a collection of disorders that may impede or reduce one’s ability to acquire, retain and understand both non verbal and verbal information.

Causes and manifestations
Learning disabilities may occur in various forms and some of them may be more severe than others. For instance, some learning disabilities may impede one’s ability to speak, listen or understand any language. In other circumstances, it may manifest itself in the form of having an inability to comprehend or decode any information that one has access to. On top of the latter, a learning disability can cause one to have an inability to comprehend any written language such as spelling and grammar. Besides this, persons with learning disabilities may not be in a position to solve certain learning problems such as those in mathematics for instance, they may not be able to do computations or similar circumstances. (HCC, 2008)

Learning disabilities have the ability to affect how certain individuals absorb information. In other words, when in the classroom, they may not take in information at the same rate or in the same manner that other individuals do. In other circumstances, it may be possible to find that a person with a learning disability can absorb information normally but they may have difficulty remembering or recalling that information. In close relation to the latter issue is the fact that learning disabilities impede the process of understanding this information and at the same time expressing that information to other people in a manner that they would understand it.

It should however be noted that persons with learning disabilities are not devoid off intelligence. In other words, they are still able to learn; their only problem is that their rate of processing information may be slower than other people or the mechanism they use to do that may be different. The situation is further compounded by the fact that learning disabilities affect one’s social dimensions. It can come in the way of the relations one has with their friends, family or the classmates. Consequently, a person with a learning disability is more likely to be confronted with issues of self image compared to the average person. This may also come in the way of their ability to go about their day to day activities.

Learning disabilities do not signify the end of the road for persons affected by them. In fact, with the right kind of self management approach, persons with learning disabilities can live successfully. This can be made possible by establishing strategies and skills that could lead to attainment of this matter. In other words, through the establishment of effective ways to accommodate a person with a learning disability, it can be possible to facilitate their learning process and assist them in the process of self fulfilment. This means that people with learning disabilities need to have specialized intervention in any of the following areas;
• Their communities
• Schools
• Homes
• Workplace settings (HCC, 2008)

Usually, in order to achieve any of the latter issues, it will be imperative to study some of the needs and strengths of these respective individuals and then create a specific set of skills and instructions that would work for them. Additionally, development of strategies to compensate for the skills that may be lacking within an individual’s life can be a particular important way to deal with this matter head on. On top of the latter, it would be important for persons working with learning disability issues to look for self advocacy skills that would assist in this process of self actualization.

The changes facing people with learning disabilities may not just be restricted to the classroom environment. In fact, many organizations find that they have to deal with these matters on a constant basis. Usually, this is the reason why certain employers may have inhibitions about hiring people with learning disabilities within their businesses as most of them may be regarded as a liability. However, the latter need not be the case as there are ways in which these matters can be handled. (Brostrand, 2006)

Changing social attitudes towards people with learning disabilities and how these may relate to the provision of health and social care both past and present
Statistics have shown that continued interaction with persons with learning disabilities can go a long way in improving the attitudes of people towards the latter group. This is especially the case with recent trends towards integration of persons with disabilities of any nature into the classroom. Hall and Holins (1996) illustrated the truth of this assertion by conducting an experiment at the St Georges Hospital Medical School. The study involved a handful of medical students (14) who were supposed to engage in a two hour long workshop with persons with learning disabilities. In this case, the specific cases chosen for study were Downs Syndrome cases. The medical students were asked to rate the persons with learning disabilities in accordance with the following rates
• They understand gestures over words
• Can look after themselves
• They act like children
• Are happy most of the time
• Need to be told what to do
• Understand other people
• Are good communicators
• Are good teachers

It should be noted that all the persons with learning disabilities look up the role of teachers. It was found that most of the medical students who participated rated the persons with learning disabilities negatively prior to their interactions with them. However, after the workshop it was found that they tended to rate them more positively. Consequently, it can be asserted that when society interacts more with people with learning disabilities, then their attitude towards them is likely to be a more positive one. (Brostrand, 2006)

Given the latter assertions, it can be said that the attitude of society towards these individuals has dramatically improved. Perhaps one of the most important attitudes that need to be assessed with regard to this matter are teacher’s attitudes. It has been shown that teacher’s attitudes vary with the severity of the learning disability. When teachers were asked about their opinion of learning disabilities most of them claimed that they would favour children with mild or moderate emotional behavioural issues. While claiming that they were inadequately prepared to handle children with severe learning disabilities, most teachers feel that the general principle of integration is a good one but some of them have doubt about their own abilities to meet the needs of these specific individuals.


It has also been shown that when teachers participate in workshops, teaching exchanges and observation visits, most of them tend to have greater levels of contentment with such students. It can therefore be said that social and health care needs to contribute towards this greater education process by encouraging greater interaction with these individuals. (Brostrand, 2006)

Importance for healthcare practitioners to work in partnership with people with learning disabilities using advanced communication skills and understanding issues of consent
It has been asserted that the key thing behind coping with disabilities is changing patience especially as nursing practitioners. Most of these health practitioners have to realize that the key thing is teaching the latter groups self confidence rather than merely gaining skills.

As a nurse dealing with learning disability cases, it would be instrumental for one to identify the need to be resourceful. Additionally, there are certain circumstances in which these individuals may be going through certain challenges that may threaten their perception of the world. A nurse, it imperative for one to understand that all these patients are looking for is assistance, care and the right skills required to go about handling some of these issues. As a learning disability nurse, one ought to be prepared to work with a wide variety of persons with learning disabilities. This is usually because there may be certain individuals who may require support only in a crisis, on the other hand, others may require support at all times or on a regular basis. Here, there will be a need to collaborate with family members and careers in order to offer a comprehensive package for the person with learning disabilities. (HCC, 2008)

It should be noted that a good learning disabilities nurse must posses certain skills in order to succeed in life. The first one amongst these is the issue of good communication skills. Because there are so many parties around the child with learning disabilities, then the learning disabilities nurse must be able to interact and listen properly to these groups so as to ensure that the best healthcare is dispensed. On top of the latter, there is also a need for a nurse to be highly assertive. This is because the role will entail changing and challenging societal attitudes. This means that a nurse needs to protect the interests of the learning disability child i.e. he/ she needs to ensure that people are not discriminating against that child and that they are in fact supporting him or her. In close relation o this feature is the fact that nurses must have an ability to think quickly on their feet. Additionally, they need to be in a position where most of their solutions are in line with some of these assertions.

It should also be noted that heath care practitioners need to exercise a lot of patience with this group. This is because progress may be painstakingly slow. For example, one may find that there are certain circumstances in which a learning disabilities child may take so long to learn how to make their own cup of tea. By the time they accomplish such a feat, then a learning disability nurse will have put in a lot of effort. (HCC, 2008)

Reflective summary
Through this experience, I have learnt that being a learning disability nurse is all about possessing good people skills. In other words, there is a need for a paradigm shift. In other words, unlike the emergency accident sections of nursing, one ought to be prepared for slow processes. Besides this, the line of work usually causes one to interact with others from various sectors of health care and the community. This field of nursing requires one to be able to incorporate physical, social and psychological skills because one must place healthcare in a broader context.

References

Brostrand, H. (2006): Changing attitudes towards people with disabilities; The Journal of Rehabilitation
HCC (2008): Learning disability nursing, retrieved from http://www.hcc.uce.ac.uk/pdf/undergraduate/ug_ld.pdf. accessed on 9th January 2009
Halls, I. & Hollins, S. (1996): London, Department of Psychiatry Bulletin, 20, 429-430

The author of this article is a holder of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard University and currently pursing PhD Program. He is also a professional academic writer. ResearchPapers247.Com>