ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION This chapter explores the nature and various manifestations of learning disabilities, along with their relationship to learning disability nursing. It commences by describing in some detail learning disabilities, along with criteria that are used in determining whether someone has learning disabilities, and this leads to defining what learning disabilities mean. This is sometimes difficult, as the term learning disability means different things to different people-not only in England and the United Kingdom, but also internationally (Gates, 2007). Furthermore, it will be shown that the term learning disability has different meanings between the many health and social care professionals, service agencies and other disciplines involved in supporting people with learning disabilities. Next, the chapter outlines some of the important issues surrounding the incidence and prevalence of learning disabilities. Distinctions will be made between pre-, peri-, and postnatal factors of causation. This is followed by an outline of causation, and some of the more common genetic and chromosomal abnormalities, and their manifestation, and the chapter will identify aspects of co-morbidity, and some of the health challenges that people with learning disabilities may experience because of these particular clinical manifestations. The second half of this chapter will then explore learning disability nursing, its strong value base, and its long relationship in supporting people with learning disabilities and their families. Also explored will be services, and how such services can contribute to the health and well-being of people with learning disabilities, making a small but nonetheless valuable contribution to improving the quality of lives for this often marginalised and vulnerable group of people. The content of this chapter is contextualised within the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) of the United Kingdom (2010) and Ireland’s An Bord Altranais (2005) standards for competence.
