
| The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is an organisation that funds others to do Health and Care research. |

| In 2019 the National Institute for Health Research funded a training course for students with learning disabilities. |

| The research taught students with learning disabilities how to research things and how to share what they found. |

| The training led to people having new skills, more self-confidence and a higher self-esteem. |

| Some people even went on to paid employment. |

| The people who ran the course have said money should be available so more courses can run in the future. |
Why was it important to do the training? |

| It is important for people with learning disabilities to be included in research that is about them. |

| People with learning disabilities have a lot of experience and knowledge about learning disabilities that others might not have. |

| It can be difficult for people with learning disabilities to get involved without support. |

| The training gave people an introduction into what research is. |

| It taught them new skills about how to be a researcher and to have more confidence in what they can do. |

| It also meant that more people with learning disabilities could work on research projects in the future. |
What was the training course? |

| In 2019 Kingston and St George’s University of London ran a course for people with learning disabilities. |

| The course was called ‘Learning how to do research’. |

| The course ran every week for 8 weeks. |

| The sessions were 2 hours long. |

| There was also work to do at home. |

| 25 people applied for the course but only 10 were chosen. |

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| Everyone did their own research project. |
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What were the outcomes? |

| The students said they were nervous about the course but said that they enjoyed doing it. |

| Some of the students had more confidence in their daily lives after the course. |

| Some students got into Advocacy work to help others speak up for themselves. |

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| Some of the students used their new skills when interviewing for jobs or interviewing others. |

| Eight of the students helped to write up the report after the course ended. |

| Michelle McDerrmott went on the course in London. She helped to write the report.She said: “I have a mild learning disability. I beat myself up because I think I didn't do it right.I was also nervous about meeting new people. Knowing what to expect. Will I understand it? |

| Each week I was petrified. I might not have shown it, but I was. Can I do the homework? Am I doing it right?Even though I knew Irene and we've worked together before, I was still nervous. |

| But it was also exciting. We're not all perfect, but we all learn. And at the end of it, we all got our certificate!” |
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Why was this training course so important? |

| This course shows that people with learning disabilities can become researchers. |

| Irene Tuffrey‐Wijne, Professor of Intellectual Disability and Palliative Care, Kingston University London. |

| Irene helped to run the course.She said that including co-researchers with learning disabilities will make for the most brilliant research. |

| She was really impressed by how much the students wanted to learn and how many skills they picked up in a short space of time. |

| She said the students are not stupid. They had just not had an opportunity to learn in an accessible way before. |
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What are the next steps? |

| The researchers would like to run the course again. |

| They would like to run another course for people who have already done the ‘Learning how to do research’ course. |

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| They would like to pair people with learning disabilities and learning disability nurses so they can learn together. |

| They would like to help others run a course so people with learning disabilities can be more involved in research projects in the future. |
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| If you would like to read the report by Irene and the team called, “It gives us a voice. We CAN be researchers!”, you can find it here: https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12331 |

| If you would like to watch a video from one of the training sessions, you can watch it here: “A very bad research interview.” |

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