Today, we talked about a twenty-three year old friend of one of my classmates who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in July of 2015. Not only did this diagnosis come a week before her twenty-second birthday, but her MS joined a number of other medical diagnosis already present. Thankfully, the MS she contracted is the mildest form of MS with intermittent bouts of the symptoms occurring. Currently, she is living alone and in law school. She also volunteers weekly doing equine therapy. Her goals throughout OT are to keep pursuing her interests in horseback riding and continuing law school. Helping the client to find adaptive ways to write, horseback ride, and conserve energy are all ways OT can help the client to pursue her goals.
The older I have grown the more I have seen the crippling effects of societal mindsets. Simply looking at the various changes in roles of women, men, children, and races has revealed the side effects of societal norms. From working on plantations without rights to their own bodies to finally becoming integrated and viewed as equal, African Americans have suffered the stigma associated with their race. Alongside this is the issue of women's rights and their desires to become involved in the workforce. Over time and gradual mindset changes equality and rights have been achieved, but I believe the real issue behind societal expectations can be found in the definitions of words and how they are used. Aimee Mullins does an incredible job emphasizing the importance of word definitions and how they are used in her Ted Talks about the demeaning impact of the word "disabled" to refer to an individual with special needs. By reading the synonyms listed with this...
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