Jonathan Beebee asks whether the profession needs a more contemporary title to reflect changes in practice

The formal title ‘registered nurse in learning disabilities’ has been in use since the 1990s. Over the century that we have been practising, our title has changed every 30 years or so and reflected the values and practices of the time. This has sometimes meant the use of language in our titles that would now be considered culturally unacceptable, including being labelled as ‘mental deficiency’, ‘mental subnormality’ and ‘mental handicap’ nurses.