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Continue reading →: Breaking the Glass Roof: What Nnena Kalu’s Turner Prize Win Means for Support, Participation and Occupational Therapy Practice
I first came across Nnena Kalu’s story back in September, when Channel Four News ran a feature about her nomination for the Turner Prize. From then on, I followed the developments with interest. Last night, as I was driving home, I heard on Radio Four during Front Row that she…
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Continue reading →: Exploring Inequality and Society My Masters Reflections – Beginning with Occupational Deprivation What My First Presentation Taught Me
Starting my Masters at the University of Sunderland feels like rolling into a new chapter that I have been edging towards for a long time. After years of working in practice and navigating systems that shape people’s lives in ways that often go unseen, I wanted to study inequality in…
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Continue reading →: Disability History Month: why it matters now more than ever
Every year, as November approaches, I find myself thinking about the stories that rarely make it into textbooks or policy papers. Disability History Month offers a space to pause, to look back, and to recognise the lives, struggles, and contributions of disabled people whose experiences have shaped the world we…
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Continue reading →: Rolling into Occupational Therapy Week with Lily Allen: Reflection, Recovery and the Power of Prevention
It’s Sunday afternoon, and while many people are taking a well-earned rest, I’m spending my day practising a presentation for the South West Social Care Occupational Therapy Regional Conference: Prevent, Reduce, Delay the Occupational Therapy Way, which I’ll be giving on Tuesday. The timing feels perfect as it falls within Occupational Therapy…
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Continue reading →: Popular Culture Through an OT Lens: Strategy and Survival in The Traitors and the Occupational Adaptation Model
The Traitors is one of my favourite programmes, and tonight the celebrity version launches on BBC One and iPlayer. As someone who has followed every series, I am really looking forward to seeing how familiar faces adapt to the unique pressures of the castle. What I have noticed across every series…
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Continue reading →: Black History Month: Why It Matters in Occupational Therapy
October is Black History Month in the UK. Every year it is a moment of celebration, reflection, and education. But it is also a month that makes me stop and think carefully about my own role. I want to begin with an acknowledgement: I am not Black. Some people might…
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Continue reading →: Popular Culture Through an OT Lens: The Turner Prize, Nnena Kalu, and Doing, Being, Belonging
As part of my series exploring occupational therapy through popular culture, I was inspired after watching Channel 4 News and a story about the Turner Prize. What struck me was the feature on one of this year’s nominees, the first ever person with a learning disability to be shortlisted. I…
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Continue reading →: Popular Culture Through an OT Lens: Rose Ayling-Ellis, Strictly Come Dancing and the Model of Occupational Justice
A national phenomenon with mixed feelings I am not what you would call a Strictly superfan. I might watch occasionally, but I do struggle with many elements of the show. I often choose to catch up afterwards and usually focus just on the dancing, missing out the competition or the…
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Continue reading →: Why I Do Not Use the Word “Independent” in Occupational Therapy
As occupational therapists, we often pride ourselves on supporting people to live the lives they want to lead. But there is one word that has crept into our everyday language and professional documents that I believe we need to pause and challenge: independent. At first glance, “independence” seems like a positive…
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Continue reading →: Popular Culture Through an OT Lens: Creative Chaos in Taskmaster and the Vona du Toit Model of Creative Ability (VdTMoCA)
Today, 11th September, marks the launch of a brand new series of Taskmaster on Channel Four, but it also holds a very personal meaning for me as tomorrow 12th September should have been our wedding day back in 2020, but both my hospitalisation and the pandemic put a stop to that. It…
About me
I began my career in Occupational Therapy in 2000 as an assistant in a mental health hospital. I graduated from Teesside University in 2006 and have accumulated 20 years of experience working in Acute, Rehabilitation, and Forensic mental health settings. I currently work full-time for a large NHS mental health and learning disability trust in the northeast of England.
I was born with Cerebral Palsy (right hemiplegia) so have personal understanding & experience of disability. I have experienced much therapy over my life time mainly occupational therapy and physiotherapy. I am dyslexic & have had periods of depression as an adult. In 2020 I contracted Covid 19 spending over a year in hospital recovering.
Blogger
I have been writing about topics that are important to me, on this blog since 2013. My blogs often centre around my personal lived experiences with disability, neurodiversity and my job as an Occupational Therapist.
Activist
I focus on raising awareness, influencing policy, and fostering environments where everyone, regardless of ability, has the opportunity to thrive. Understanding the importance of intersectionality, I work to ensure that disability rights are considered alongside other social justice issues, recognising how various identities interact. Through education, outreach, and active allyship.
Voluntary work
I’m active within the wider Occupational Therapy community, with voluntary roles including; Network Lead for the RCOT Northern and Yorkshire network,
I’m a founding member of AbleOTUK a network and advocacy group for Occupational Therapy staff and students with lived experiences of Disabilities and or Long Term Health Conditions.
I have volunteered to help run OTalk a free platform to enable to the UK occupational therapy community to learn and connect with each other since 2006
Private work
I conduct occupational therapy work privately, which includes carrying out occupational therapy assessments and interventions for private clients, working in an advisory capacity with organisations and companies, and providing expert advice.