We’ve installed our latest library graduate trainee spotlight display, 'Crossing the line: Nursing with experience of disability'. You can visit our display on the lower ground floor of the RCN Library and Museum. 

 

In nursing literature, there is often a rigid line drawn between nurse and patient: one gives care, while the other receives it. Our new display challenges this division. We've chosen books and objects from our collection that document the lived stories of nursing with experience of disability and mental illness.

Visit us to learn about the social forces that impacted disabled nursing staff from the 19th century onwards, from the fallout of two world wars to the introduction of disability rights legislation. Autobiographical accounts reveal the pressures imposed on nursing staff to model good health and sound mind. Pressures that disproportionately affect disabled nursing staff, who remain more likely to leave the profession today.

Above all, these accounts demonstrate that lived experience has always shaped nursing practice. Our display captures and celebrates the invaluable knowledge gained from experience on ‘the other side’, while acknowledging the challenges that still need to be addressed.

The RCN Library and Museum is actively working to address the gaps in our collection related to disabled nursing voices. We welcome donations of objects or books relating to these themes – please complete a donation request form.