Background Registered nurses in learning disability (RNLDs) work to enhance the lives of people with learning disabilities and reduce the health inequities experienced by this population. Yet since its inception, the validity of the RNLD role and its place within the nursing profession have been questioned.

Aim To understand the attitudes of adult, children’s and mental health nursing students towards learning disability nursing.

Method A descriptive phenomenological methodology design was used. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 18 students in adult nursing, children’s nursing or mental health nursing at one university in north east England.

Findings Participants perceived learning disability nursing as less ‘clinical’ than other fields of nursing and felt that RNLDs lack visibility and have a narrow scope of practice and limited career prospects. Participants also felt that the lack of awareness of learning disability nursing, in the nursing profession and among the public, was due in part to its absence from the media, while its image was also tarnished by widely reported care failings in certain settings, for example Winterbourne View Hospital. Participants also had positive views of the RNLD role, regarding it as diverse, autonomous and relationship focused.

Conclusion Nursing students’ exposure to learning disability nursing and to people with learning disabilities should be increased. There is also a need for improved career guidance which showcases the varied skill set of RNLDs and rectifies outdated stereotypes about their role and about people with learning disabilities.