Allie's OT Blog

Looking back on my observation hours I completed prior to applying to OT school, there are some situations/ decisions I saw that seem a little less clear, knowing what I do now. Watching PTs or OTs do their jobs is one thing. They make decision-making look easy, when in reality there is so much more to the story than is visible to the observer (especially an observer with no graduate-level knowledge under their belt). I observed PT and OT in an outpatient pediatric clinic as an intern for a semester. During that time, I learned a great deal about client interaction and numerous diagnoses that were commonly seen in the children that came to this clinic. However, I did not recognize at that time that the therapist's clinical decision-making was so involved. From my perspective, the therapists would take each client and each day as it came, utilizing whatever motivated the client that particular day. It is true that children are unpredictable and are motivated by different things at ...

In his TED talk, Michael Nesmith explains, via a translator, why we need universal design. The term "universal design" was coined by Ron Mace, and is defined as "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." Clearly, as a man with hearing issues, Michael has a unique perspective on the topic of universal design. A helpful illustration given during his talk has to do with a doorknob. Maybe you haven't ever given doorknobs much thought (I sure hadn't before this TED talk), but that's usually how it goes for people who have no issues using a one on a daily basis. What about people using wheelchairs, or a mother pushing a stroller? Doorknobs become a bigger issue to those who do not have complete accessibility to them. However, a simple solution was created to fix this issue: the automatic sliding door. Michael explains, "This is such a univer...