A Day in Their Shoes

For this blog, I was searching for a story that would help me to realize the central theme of OT in a manner that didn't seem corny or cliche. I chose this episode of On The air because it gave a unique story of someone who could personally and professionally identify with occupational therapy.  I was able to listen and learn about an OT, Danielle Watson, who had an experience being in a wheelchair. Her experience was even more unique because she participated in her OT education while maintaining her status in her wheelchair. As I was listening to this podcast, I came to the realization that the whole process that she went to in order to get into OT school was really an entire OT story. Following the story of her injury, she began to discuss the process of applying for physical therapy school and being denied the opportunity because the programs felt that they were not conducive to her injury. Then came occupational therapy. I personally believe that it applies very much so to OT that she was able to gain access into school and she was able to have her environment adapted in order that she may be able to get her education. Another thing that struck me during the course of this podcast was a time when Danielle was was in class and they were discussing spinal cord injuries during coursework. She described this situation as though it were an elephant in the room. She had the opportunity to discuss her experience in the injury. I believe experiences like this are incredibly important to the learning process. Wether it is through a classmate or through a guest speaker, sometimes we need to have awkward moments with people who have an injury that we do not have experiences with in order to realize how to relate to them. Ultimately from her podcast and from hearing guest speakers during my coursework, the most important thing to remember is that people with injuries are people to. As I have come upon this light bulb, I was able to realize that this is the central theme of OT. We, as practitioners, make an effort and gear our therapy to help people not to help a sickness. I would highly recommend this podcast episode to anyone that is struggling to connect the dots on the definition of occupational therapy.

Reference
Lancaster, S. (2018, March 16). On The Air Episode 16 [Audio blog post]. Retrieved June 12, 2018, from http://www.ontheair.us/podcast1/episode-16-disability-justice-adaptive-sports

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