OT isn't perfect, but nothing is!
Today, I received three different e-mails that pointed out problems in OT.
1) A thoughtful letter written from the son of a rehab consumer, which I will be
posting in full, about his experience…but it definitely showed issues with rehab.
2) A letter from an OT who doesn't find it rewarding in any sense and is giving up
the profession and wants to warn me to have a back-up plan.
3) A disability activitist who enjoys bursting my OT-exuberance-bubble because he
thinks it is unrealistic to have such a high opinion of OT (to be fair, he and I have been in e-mail contact a while
and we've both enlightened each other on things.) He also wanted to know how much
coffee I drink. A fair question.
So. How do we address these things.
1) I will be posting his letter as we all have things we can learn from it.
2) I am sorry that this OT has not had experienced good things with this career. Her
advice is good in that no one should have all their little OT eggs in one handmade
basket. I wish her well in finding something that better suits her.
3) I just want the entire world (or ok, the people who read this) to know that I
know perfectly well occupational therapy is not a perfect career, just like ANY
career is not perfect. I get it's not Utopian and many people have not had great
experiences. There are lots of issues in the healthcare professions and OT is not
immune. I get all that. But the purpose of this blog is for me to chart my journey
as an enthusiastic, not yet jaded, OT student, who is doing her best to show people
the FUN and GOOD side of OT. So it's not so much that I'm in a bubble and don't know
it. I just like to focus on the positive. I want to make the Centennial Vision come
true!! One wacky blog post at a time! (I don't like caffeine by the way).