OT with Bethany

This is just going to be a fun blog post, compared to my other posts about admissions! I thought we could understand disability and OT more through analyzing movies together. I noticed that there are many movies that have characters with disabilities, but it isn't always apparent. For example, I watched all of Forrest Gump without knowing that he had autism spectrum disorder. But I would argue that Forrest Gump portrays a lot of what OT is about, which is living a meaningful life. Forrest Gump doesn't see himself as disadvantaged, and so he pursues an independent lifestyle with things that are meaningful, such as his work and his relationships.  Another movie that came to mind when I was thinking about disability was Nemo. Nemo had a shortened fin, which prevented him from being a strong swimmer. This was a source of shame for him, as he runs into obstacles throughout the movie such as not being able to touch the boat or stop the tank filter in order to help his friends escape.

Usually when I meet people for the first time, I have to explain what OT is to them. It used to make me sad that OT is not more well-known, but now I see that I have so many opportunities to promote OT to others!  So what is OT? In OT school, they teach us to have an "elevator pitch," which is an explanation of OT that is short enough that it could be explained during an elevator ride. Here is mine: "Occupational therapy works with people who have a disability or are recovering from an injury. An occupation is any activity that is meaningful to a person, which could be anything from brushing your teeth, to driving, to hanging out with friends. We use occupations to return our clients to their highest quality of life. For some people, it may be completely regaining their independence. For others, it may look more like adaptation of their environment. We work with people across the life span, so kids, adults, and older adults. We practice in many places, such as schools, h