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The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is an organisation that funds others to do Health and Care research.
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In 2019 the National Institute for Health Research funded a training course for students with learning disabilities.
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The research taught students with learning disabilities how to research things and how to share what they found.
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The training led to people having new skills, more self-confidence and a higher self-esteem.
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Some people even went on to paid employment.
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The people who ran the course have said money should be available so more courses can run in the future.
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Why was it important to do the training?
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It is important for people with learning disabilities to be included in research that is about them.
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People with learning disabilities have a lot of experience and knowledge about learning disabilities that others might not have.
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It can be difficult for people with learning disabilities to get involved without support.
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The training gave people an introduction into what research is.
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It taught them new skills about how to be a researcher and to have more confidence in what they can do.
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It also meant that more people with learning disabilities could work on research projects in the future.
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What was the training course?
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In 2019 Kingston and St George’s University of London ran a course for people with learning disabilities.
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The course was called ‘Learning how to do research’.
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The course ran every week for 8 weeks.
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The sessions were 2 hours long.
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There was also work to do at home.
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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?
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The students said they were nervous about the course but said that they enjoyed doing it.
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Some of the students had more confidence in their daily lives after the course.
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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.
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Eight of the students helped to write up the report after the course ended.
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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?
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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.
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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?
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This course shows that people with learning disabilities can become researchers.
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Irene Tuffrey‐Wijne, Professor of Intellectual Disability and Palliative Care, Kingston University London.
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Irene helped to run the course.
She said that including co-researchers with learning disabilities will make for the most brilliant research.
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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.
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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?
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The researchers would like to run the course again.
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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.
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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
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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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