The New Fascism in Occupational Therapy

I am sometimes hesitant to extend my commentary to the academic editorializing that happens in the occupational therapy literature of other countries, but I am unable to remain silent.  Too often the ideas expressed elsewhere slither their way into the thinking of academics in the United States.And, of course, any objection to these ideas immediately causes one to be branded xenophobic, and usually worse, so I will simply gird myself for that criticism; I know it is coming. Over time I have raised the issue of international ' goodness of fit ' of philosophical constructs - initially in OT24VX presentations.  I talked aboutthe incompatibility of ' occupational justice ' models in societies that had health systems that had elements of free-market construction as opposed to those that are more fully socialized.  For a while I tried to discuss reverse colonialism, thinking that if I spoke the language of those who perceived themselves to be oppressed by Western OT thinking that perhaps they might get the point.  Of course, oppressors can never be oppressed or colonized in their model of thinking - so that was not an effective discussion tactic.  I also tried to express these ideas ina theory textbook, and I blog about the issue as well -even recently.  Still, concerns about the adoption of justice frameworks are largely ignored by the academic elite in occupational therapy.  These ideas are not entertained in mainstream professional literat...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT Education OT practice philosophy Source Type: blogs