OTs in the Community

   After listening to the "Glass Half Full occupational therapy" podcast, titled "Au-some swimmers", I realized how big of a need there is for occupational therapy in the community setting, especially since  often there is a lack of funding. This podcast discussed a program that was started by OTs to help train lifeguards at a local swim lesson program to work with children with autism and other sensory processing disorders. To be honest, before listening to this podcast I overlooked many of the barriers present for a child who is on the spectrum may face when learning to swim. For example, it was brought up that even the time of day and day of the week can make a huge difference based on the number of people who may also be using the pool. The program that is discussed in the podcast helps lifeguards address these issues and helps train them to handle some of the behavioral differences in children with autism so that they can do their job effectively and teach the child to swim.
   It is easy to look at a child who is miserable and uncomfortable trying to learn to swim and figure why put them through that? However the reality is that if a child does not have basic swimming skills they are at a high risk of drowning if they ever fall in the water. This is why it is important for occupational therapists to go out into the community and help where they can. This podcast helped show me that there are so many essential programs out there that are not currently adapted for people who have a disability and we need OTs to be active in the community to help these programs interact in the necessary ways with people who have a disability for the safety and comfort of everyone involved.

SKRRT! (OT misconceptions)

"Blissful Ordinariness"

   Many people who are considered "able bodied" and "able minded" often take for granted the ease with which they go about their everyday tasks, such as, brushing their teeth, taking a shower, driving to work, etc.. For other people who may have a disability, these often considered "mindless" tasks can be a huge challenge that interrupts the flow of their daily routine. This brings us to the idea of "blissful ordinariness". This involves moving through one's day with little to no barriers and really not giving much thought into the tasks that make up one's everyday routine; in a sense someone's everyday life is rather ordinary. Not everyone experiences  "blissful ordinariness" in their everyday life due to an array of reasons and this is where occupational therapists can help.
   Occupational therapists emphasize the importance of the therapeutic relationship between themselves and the client. This means that the occupational therapist works on developing a relationship with the client that allows the OT to better understand the client as a whole rather than just for their disability, which is considered a holistic approach. Having this relationship helps build trust and understanding with the client which can help build "blissful ordinariness", because by understanding the client and their life you can better decipher what things are important for a client to be able to help them achieve a more cohesive routine to their day. No two people's daily demands are the same nor are their values; by taking a holistic approach occupational therapists are able to individualize treatment to help each individual client find and achieve their version of "blissful ordinariness".

Occupational Therapy Settings: My Interests

     My first exposure to the field of occupational therapy was in a pediatric setting which led to my interest in becoming an occupational therapist. My younger cousin was diagnosed with polymicrogyria and as a result attended many forms of therapy including occupational therapy. I got to attend some of his sessions, which were in an outpatient clinic and would be classified as a private for profit agency where the funding comes from private investors. I loved getting to see him interact and learn through simple tasks and games that he had fun doing. From there I did more research and realized that being an occupational therapist that specializes in pediatrics was a perfect fit for my interests. I had the opportunity to shadow an occupational therapist at my cousin's school, which would be a public agency and founded by the government. There the main focus was on handwriting and it was with the whole class and so there was little individualized attention due to limitations of the OT's time. As of now I am pretty confident I want to work in pediatrics, however this could change throughout my time as a MOT student.

Era Presentations: My Takeaway

     After listening to different groups present on the individual decades spanning the 1940s-2010s I learned a lot about how great of an impact the outside world has on a field such as occupational therapy. Much of the current OT profession revolves around helping a client with their activities of daily living; I learned this focus came about in the 1950s when Sidney Katz developed the index of independence in activities of daily living. This index, commonly known as the Katz ADL, was the first assessment created for measuring a persons ability to complete activities to live independently, which now serves as a guiding principle for our field.
  One occupation that evolved and continues to evolve is dancing. The style of dance has changed to match the changing trends in music. In the 1940s big bands were the popular music which coincided with swing dancing which was used for leisure and entertainment. In the 1980s there was still dancing for leisure due to MTV, however the style of dance had drastically changed to match the new music styles. There was also a shift to dance based exercise with the fitness craze that occurred in the 1980s.
  I was shocked to hear that in the 1940s an 18 month occupational therapy course was packed into a 2 week course to meet the demands of Occupational Therapists during the war. I also thought it was kinda cool to see learn that USC was the first school to create an Occupational Therapy Masters program in the 1960s, since USC is both of my parents alma mater. In learning about the 1990s I found it interesting that OTs were already integrating computers and technology into their therapy modalities since I always viewed technology as an intervention as more recent and more of a novel concept. I loved seeing how much the profession of Occupational Therapy changed from decade to decade based on what was going on. Occupational therapy serves to meet the needs of the client, looking at what was going on during the decades, it is easier to see how the needs of the client changed and therefore the demands of an Occupational Therapist. This helped highlight the need for individualized approaches based on what the client wants or needs to be able to accomplish. The bottom line is Occupational Therapy is an ever evolving profession.

The History of Disability

     Dr. Kiesling gave a presentation on the history of developmental disabilities in the United States. I found it astonishing how drastically societal views on disability have changed in a relatively short period of time. I learned how in the early twentieth century people with disabilities were viewed as "feeble-minded" and disability was often associated with criminality and therefore considered a burden on the rest of the community. This lead to institutions for people with disabilities so that they could be removed from society. Learning about the conditions of the institutions that most with disabilities were subjected to was truly heartbreaking. The institutions were over-crowded and patients were treated inhumanely. I am still in disbelief that these institutions were around less than 50 years ago.Thankfully there were some legislation changes that began in the 1960s that continued to evolve and grow sparking the disability rights movement in the 1970s, mirrored after the civil rights movement the decade before.

     One thing that was discussed during this presentation was the idea of culture that can come from a disability and how many people may not view their "disability" as a disability at all. I have had the honor of being involved in the Deaf community over the last few years and one thing that came to mind was how members of the Deaf community often view their deafness as a gift. Many will decline cochlear implants because being deaf is not a negative thing, but rather just another way of defining themselves. Knowing this, I was devastated when I learned that people were institutionalized for minor developmental disabilities such as a hearing impairment.
     Learning about Ed Roberts story of how his mom, and later himself, pushed for his rights to an education no matter how many people tried to turn him away, was very moving and goes to show how far perseverance, and a little stubbornness, can get you. I definitely want to share that with my future clients, as well as myself, to help make sure people are not taken advantage of or not given what they deserve. There has been so much evolution in the views relating to individuals with developmental disabilities and while things are progressing in the right direction, from this presentation I now have a better understanding of the importance of advocacy so that people with disabilities are aware of their rights as well as society having a better understanding of the rights of those individuals. A person with a developmental disability is still a person and deserves to be treated as one.