5: Discussion

In this chapter, we discuss the findings from the preceding one along with the prevailing discourse of intellectual disability nursing, which has been developed from existing literature, commentary and research concerning intellectual disability nursing and the historical development of intellectual disability services in general. We attempt to synthesise the findings of this study with some of this literature presented in Chapter 2, and identify some further areas which we believe offer original and unique insights into the career trajectories of these nurses, which have not, as far as we know, been previously reported. The chapter will focus on the areas of importance and interest as defined by these participants in the oral historical accounts of their careers. Thompson (2000) has said: