Exploring the Art of Occupation

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 live in today. It is also a time to recognise the barriers that remain and the responsibility we carry to change the systems that continue to exclude so many.

For me, this month is never just a commemoration. It is a reminder that our history is still being written in hospital wards, in workplaces, in streets not built for those who roll or move differently, and in the countless small negotiations disabled people must make each day.

This year I am reflecting on the stories within our own profession. Occupational therapy in the United Kingdom has always drawn on the idea that people find meaning and purpose through the things they do. Yet the history of disabled people within the profession has not always been visible. Many of us have felt we needed to hide or minimise parts of ourselves to be seen as professional. Many have struggled just to get through the door in the first place.

I know how hard fought visibility can be. My own journey from keeping quiet about my lived experiences to speaking openly about them has not been straightforward. It took years to realise that sharing these experiences is not a weakness. It is knowledge. It is expertise. It is part of the fabric of who I am as an occupational therapist and as a person. Disabled people have always shaped this profession, often without acknowledgement, and I believe Disability History Month is a chance to bring that truth into the light.

I am especially proud of AbleOTUK, which I co-founded with colleagues who share a relentless belief in the power of lived experience to transform our profession. AbleOTUK has become a space where disabled, neurodivergent, and long-term health condition practitioners, students, educators, and researchers can come together without apology. It is a network built on solidarity, honesty, and mutual support. As part of Disability History Month, we are holding a meet-up in London on Saturday 13th December at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Disability and Design exhibition. It feels fitting to gather in a space that celebrates disabled creativity, culture, and contribution, and to spend time with others who carry the same hope for a profession that reflects all of us.

This month also prompts us to remember the wider history of disabled rights in Britain. The struggles for accessible transport. The fight to close long-stay institutions. The campaigns that led to the Equality Act. These victories were never handed out willingly. They were won by people who refused to accept that exclusion was inevitable. They were won by those who insisted that disabled lives hold value, dignity, and possibility.

Yet, despite this progress, the present moment is deeply unsettling. Public narratives about disabled people and welfare have become harsher. Support structures are under strain. Too often, disabled people are cast as burdens or problems to solve, rather than human beings with lives as varied and valuable as anyone else. It is precisely because of this climate that Disability History Month matters. Our history reminds us that backlash is not new, and neither is resistance.

Within occupational therapy, the message is clear. We need to centre lived experience, challenge ableism wherever it appears, and work towards practice that honours people’s rights and their ways of being. This includes looking critically at our language, our assumptions, and the systems we uphold. It means designing services alongside those who use them. It means recognising that disabled practitioners bring insight that strengthens the whole profession.

Pride is an important part of this month as well. Disabled pride is not an attempt to gloss over difficulty. It is the acknowledgement that disabled lives are rich, creative, and full. It is a refusal to be reduced to pity or inspiration narratives. It is a statement that our identities are valid in their own right.

As Disability History Month begins, I am choosing to look forward with determination. The work continues in every conversation where we challenge an assumption. In every policy we rewrite to be more inclusive. In every student who learns that lived experience is expertise. In every story we tell, whether whispered or shouted.

Thankyou as ever for reading Rachel xx