DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

          

   

 

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm! 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

About Me

 

My interest in working with people with disabilities started young; at age fourteen, unable to get a paid summer job, I volunteered as a candy striper in a nursing home.  Following that very positive experience, I continued to volunteer throughout my high school and early college years in both occupational and physical therapy departments.  Ultimately, I became a registered occupational therapist (OTR) and a certified hand therapist (CHT) and have worked primarily with people with physical impairments throughout my career.

 

My decision to pursue my master’s degree was spurred in equal parts by my need to advance my education for employment purposes, as well my interest and desire to challenge myself to examine why and how I do what as I do, as well as explore different perspectives with regard to disability and apply those perspectives and insight in my clinical work. In addition to my clinical work, I teach in an occupational therapy program and hoped the new information and perspectives I might gain in the pursuit of my degree would inform my interactions with the OT students I teach, raising my awareness and that of my students with regard to how we approach our interactions and work with people with disabilities.

 

With regard to my day-to-day involvement in the Disability Studies program, I chose to challenge myself to do things differently; that is, to push myself to take courses or choose assignments that were different from my clinical or teaching experience, in an effort to explore what I think and why I think it, as well as challenge myself to consider and examine things from different points of view or simply learn something new.  Ultimately, I found myself drawn back to the intersection of medical professions and disability; that is, what happens when a person with a disability wants to pursue a career in a medical or medical-related field, such as occupational or physical therapy, nursing or medicine?  Or, put another way, how does a “patient” go about becoming a (health care) "provider"?  This became a topic I researched and examined through the lens of a few of my courses in the program

 

By sharing my experiences and work in the following pages, I hope to demonstrate the insights and knowledge I’ve gained, humbly presented as “food-for-thought”, for you to consider with regard to people with disabilities and the concept of disability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.