I vaant to TELL you zomething!

I want to share a message about authenticity in therapeutic relationships.Jim was a 40 year old man who participated in  a day treatment program in a rural community.  The program itself was conceived and nurtured by Jim's parents along with other parents who were desperately trying to find non-institutional program options for their children.  Jim had cerebral palsy and an intellectual disability.  He attended that community program as a school child and eventually 'graduated' into the adult day treatment program.  The program grew from providing services to just a few children to several hundred people with developmental disabilities of all ages.  The program was an act of love, gifted by parents to their children.  That is the best way I can think to describe programs that developed this way.I am not sure how aware Jim was of all that.  He was mostly focused on relationships with people and he had no disability in that social arena.I had no special relationship with Jim, except that he treated all of the people that he interacted with in a special way.  Because of that I loved spending time with him.  Who doesn't love spending time with someone who treats them like they are special?You could always hear Jim before you could see him; he had an uncanny ability to know where you were before he could see you.  Perhaps because his vision was poor and his motor abilities were limited he compensated with hearing or somethi...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - Category: Occupational Health Tags: Disability rights OT Education OT practice Source Type: blogs