ALOFT- American League of Functional Therapists

Functional Therapy, OT for the 21st Century and Beyond.

What’s in a name?

Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

William Shakespeare

 

It was apparently a convincing argument… but Romeo and Juliet met tragic ends. How could two young people, so full of potential come to this. Perhaps names do matter, or at least one ought to be mindful of the consequences of them.

 

No doubt, we have been very mindful. It is often the subject of a conversation at a party, right after the “what do you do?” and the “Oh, what’s that?”. Soon into our spiel we have defined (or rather redefined) for our audience Occupation.

 

The profession has become one of constant salesmanship over the supposed value of our services. This despite the fact that many Occupational Therapists I know are among the most interesting, creative, and effective people I’ve ever met. The tremendously challenging job we do is matched only by the cheerfulness with which we do it.

 

All these great people doing such meaningful work… and still we have to explain.

 

Maybe a dozen red long stemmed “Occupations” would smell sweet and not sell. “Um, I’ll take the Orchids please.”

 

 

 

Who can deny the kind of beautiful things we do?

 

How often does our name, OT, get in the way of that?

By Any Other Name...

A case from English literature.