Helen Laverty describes a journey towards practice development unit status taken by a service for people with learning disabilities. Here she reflects on the lessons learned, while the other contributing authors use travel analogies to describe the process

Over the last 25 years there has been growing emphasis placed on the rights of people who have a learning disability, the impact of historical modes of care, and the documentation of social histories for individuals. All these initiatives were long overdue and should be valued for the positive contribution they have made, and can still make, to the lifestyles of people who have a learning disability.