“When we change the way we communicate we change society”
Hi everyone, thank you so much for visiting our website.
My names Sally – Anne Dicken but I preferred to be called Sally. I am a community learning disability nurse for Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health Care NHS Trust. Before I was a learning disability nurse I worked in many job roles in learning disabilities and Autism, mental health, schools and was Appropriate Adult. I do have dyslexia so please excuse my grammar and mistakes.
So why did I start this petition ? When I started my learning disability nursing degree I was really surprised that Makaton was not part of the degree. I spoke with my lectures and some felt it should be others said it was not part of the degree as it was not health related. My first module was what was nursing and all of modules included person centred, family centred approach and communication. As first year student even though I wanted to say that some of my patients may be non verbal and use Makaton and other methods of signing and communication, how can I communicate with them if I’m not taught this skill but I never did.
When I went on my first placement some of people their used Makaton and I couldn’t communicate with them, this created a barrier and left me feeling that I couldn’t build up a trusted working relationship and also I wasn’t personally giving them the high standard care that they are intitled too. I started to learn a little from them and the internet just basic signs which did cause some giggles because I didn’t sign them correctly.
I spoke with other members of staff, the patients and other students and the feedback was that they felt it should be a skill all learning disability nurses should have and be part of their training and all nurse training. This gave me a lot to think about ! I went back to university and started talking to other student from all the nursing fields, went and spoke to different services, day centres, and groups the feedback came back the same it should be and that even though people have tried before due funding, support and thinking that it was apart of the degree already .
I started looking into how I could go about making a change to the learning disability degree and found out anyone could start a petition. So I did. I found a logo and set up social media pages which was whole new learning experience for me.
It was a slow start which is understandable and I started reaching out to other professionals, making badges and leaflets. I then made some little videos with support from others that also felt that Makaton should be on the degree too.
Within the last two years I have done a conference, been to events and lectures up and down the country, re launched our logo which is Makaton charity verified sign . And now website and we have our own Ambassadors which is incredible.
The support from others and their involvement is so crucial and I cant thank them enough.
What’s surprised me how it started as petition but people want to talk about all inclusive commination I never expected that I would be giving talks. Oh and doing a skydive to raise awareness for the petition.
So Far my own university has now put Makaton into their learning disability degree and I’m so proud that I was part of that change and one day I hope that all learning disability degree’s will do the same. With this petition we can make the change to make it mandatory and then all nursing degree’s
To me this is more then a petition its about giving people a voice in their way when they need it. And also learning disability student nurses the right skills to support all their patients.
Here’s a few of the things that that have happened in the last two years
