Annie’s Story : the use of oral history to explore the lived experience of a learning disability nurse in the twentieth century

Abstract

Oral history, in the field of learning disabilities has, exclusively, focussed on the lives of people who were detained in large institutions and hospitals for the mentally deficient or handicapped (1, 2, 3). Such work has been invaluable in providing unique and authentic insights into the lives of people with learning disabilities during the last century. It has also helped us better understand the impact of social policy and legislative change such as the introduction to the Mental Deficiency Act 1913 (4). However, little is known about what life was like as a nurse working the field of learning disabilities in the last century. The main aim of this paper is to present analysed data obtained by using the oral history approach to support and, or, challenge our current knowledge of learning disability during this time. As such it presents a unique contribution to our knowledge of the history of learning disability nursing in the UK.