Priya-the-OT

  After I got into college and while I was in the hostel , I had family members and neighbors asking my mother about what I was studying for. I don't know what she told them, but I know for a fact that they didn't ask her more; instead they waited for me to get back. Every holiday when I was home from college, this question used to come back to me. No matter what explanation I gave, people didn't seem to get an idea of what exactly Occupational therapy was.  "So you treat all conditions and all age groups?"😐 "Is your job like that of a teacher's?"😕 "It must be difficult teaching children with low intelligence, right?"😒 "When you say 'rehabilitation', what exactly do you mean? Do you provide artificial limbs?"😣 "is this a branch of nursing?" (😏Duh!!) "What do you mean when you say you treat people with fractures? So are you a Bone Specialist's assistant?"😩 "is it something like career coun...

Christian Medical College, Vellore Many people have asked me about how I chose Occupational Therapy as a career, what led me to Occupational Therapy, which was quite unheard of in the mid 90s. I grew up in an era, yes, the mid 90s like I said, where Medicine (MBBS) and Engineering where the most popular (read as ONLY) options for students after their 12th grade. Being born and raised in a typical upper middle class Malayalee family, those were my options too, especially as I was believed to be a promising student.  To be honest, I had other ideas in my head. The oldest ambition I can remember (on the professional route), is my wish to become a Teacher. Why? because all my teachers at Carmel School, Kuwait were pretty, they were beautifully dressed, were friendly with the students and I used to admire them. As I grew older, my ambitions stretched a bit in all directions that at different stages of my childhood I wanted to be an Air Hostess, a Lawyer, a Detective, a Psychologist and ...