Some Important Terms

So in hopes of providing more information and knowledge concerning the content of my research project, I found it necessary to provide an explanation of some terms that will be most likely referred to throughout my blog. I will provide the technical definition (also seen to your right on the side bar) and then follow this with elaboration to indulge the idea a bit further.

Occupation: “[A]ctivities…of everyday life, named, organized, and given value and meaning by individuals and a culture. Occupation is everything people do to occupy themselves, including looking after themselves…enjoying life…and contributing to the social and economic fabric of their communities.”

-Cited in American Occupational Therapy Association's Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (2008)

http://www.xavier.edu/OT/images/OccTherapy061.jpg

To this day there is debate concerning the most correct definition of occupation and all that it entails. In some instances it is used to refer only to those activities in which individuals, communities, or societies find meaningful participation, while in other instances it refers to everything that is done ever. The various types of occupations include anything relevant to Activities of Daily Living, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, Education, Work, Rest and Sleep, Play, Leisure, and Social Participation. There is not much, if anything at all, that cannot be defined as an occupation. For clarity's sake Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) are those tasks we perform on a regular basis like brushing our teeth, bathing, walking, eating, sexual activity, and using the bathroom. Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) are activities that often require more complex participation and cognitive ability like paying bills, caring for another person, child rearing, religious observance, preparing a meal, safety precautions etc. The rest of these areas of occupation are self-explanatory.

Occupational therapy: "Occupational Therapy is a client-centred health profession concerned with promoting health and well being through occupation. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. Occupational therapists achieve this outcome by working with people and communities to enhance their ability to engage in the occupations they want to, need to, or are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support their occupation engagement."
-World Federation of Occupational Therapist's Statement on Occupational Therapy

 Occupational Therapy is considered the use of the above defined occupations, along with a relationship between the client and the therapist, to facilitate progress and rehabilitation toward the client's goals. The World Federation of Occupational Therapists elaborates by stating that OTs have many potential roles "with people, individually, in groups, or in communities."   Their Statement on Occupational Therapy also recognizes that OT has a role with "all people, including those who have an impairment of body structure or function owing to a health condition, or who are restricted in their participation or who are socially excluded owing to their membership of social or cultural minority groups." This recognizes that OT is also relevant in places outside hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and schools like prisons, homeless shelters, and impoverished slums. If occupation is being prevented, OTs have a role.

Occupational injustice: "Occurs when participation in occupation is barred, confined, restricted, segregated, prohibited, underdeveloped, disrupted, alienated, marginalised, exploited, excluded or otherwise restricted."

-Townsend L, Wilcock AA. Occupational justice and client centred practice: a dialogue. Canadian Journal Occupy Therapy 2004; 71(2) 75-87.

http://www.xavier.edu/OT/images/OccTherapy060.jpg

Because OT is comparatively a young profession, many of the terms and ideas within it are still being ideologically debated and defined. Occupational injustice is one of these terms. To attempt to be succinct and possibly oversimplifying, occupational injustice could be defined as when an individual, group, or community is not permitted to participate in meaningful occupations. This term describes specific instances when occupation is prevented. Occupational deprivation, marginalization, and isolation are various types of occupational injustice. When one steps back from our society and looks at the larger picture, these injustices create systems and societal structures. Many of which function as obstacles for the occupationally oppressed. These structures form what some OTs have come to call Occupational Apartheid. 

Occupational apartheid: "Refers to the segregation of groups of people through the restriction or denial of access to dignified and meaningful participation in occupations of daily life on the basis of race, color, disability, national origin, age, gender, sexual preference, religion, political beliefs, status in society, or other characteristics. Occasioned by political forces, its systematic and pervasive social, cultural, and economic consequences jeopardize health and wellbeing as experienced by individuals, communities, and societies."

-Occupational Therapy without Borders: Learning from the Spirit of Survivors - p.67

Some common norms within our, the US, society function to make understanding this idea of Occupational Apartheid a bit more difficult. The American Dream and the idea that we freely move between social and economic classes proportionally to our own volition seems to battle with the idea that our society continues to function with many structures that resemble a rigorous social and economic caste system sans official sanction. From this comes the expectation of those who find themselves born into "less than desirable" situations or minorities to meet the majority. We expect those who use wheelchairs to function within a world made for the walking. We expect those who speak other languages to assimilate to the language spoken by the dominant culture. We expect veterans to return to the everyday US life after being submerged in battle and violence for months and years. We expect ex-convicts to learn the ways of "good" people after spending years in facilities that punish for profit. From the privileged perspective, structural oppression seems like the lazy being lazy, when in reality it is watching people try to swim up Niagra Falls.

Occupational Apartheid is the falls. This idea recognizes that structures and systems are many times in place that do not work on behalf of minorities or oppressed populations and in some instances work against them. There is debate within occupational science as to whether these structures and norms must be officially recognized or codified in policy for "true" occupational apartheid to be present. These structures, according to WFOT, can include restrictions due to "the physical, affective or cognitive abilities of the individual, the characteristics of the occupation, or the physical, social, cultural, attitudinal, and legislative environments." As occupational therapists attempting to provide meaningful occupation through effective therapeutic relationships and methods, we must understand the whole picture, all the factors affecting our clients, and resist the temptation to believe that the populations we work with are solely responsible for overcoming "their" obstacles. It is we, as a society, minority and majority, who have to work to overcome our obstacles.