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Hi There,

My name is Kristina Marchiori, I am a new graduate OT in Toronto, Canada. I am currently not very busy with clients due to the nature of my pediatric practice in this time of COVID. However, I have chosen to start a conversation within our Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy via twitter about the lack of diversity in our profession and the education around our profession, in response to the protests and call to action that have been amplified in the past week. I am a white, queer identifying female, raised in a middle class family and recognize that this adds to my privilege as an individual who was able to be accepted and afford completing a Masters degree. I wanted to use my voice to help amplify the voice of the Black community and get a conversation going.

I am sharing this link below written by Lauren, who is an OT reflecting on her experience as one of two Black people in her office.

https://gottabeot.wordpress.com/2020/05/31/black-ots-matter-changing-your-ot-practice-to-combat-racism-address-racial-trauma-and-promote-healing/

Please read the article and feel free to reflect in the comments. In the meantime, also I am interested in a couple questions if you don't mind answering

1. Where are you from (Country is fine, just curious about difference outside of Canadian profession)

2. How many non white OTs do you work with

3. How many Black OTs do you work with

4. In your OT degree, how many students of colour (non white) were in your class

5. In your OT degree, how many teachers or guest speakerss of colour (non white) did you encounter

6. in your OT degree, how many Black teachers or guests speakers did you encounter

7. In your OT degree, did you learn about the lived experience of different cultures and how you as an OT could adjust your practice to be accessible/supportive of all? (this DOES NOT include your own research, previous education or self started learning)

I'm not too sure where I want to go with this information (I don't really have funding or anything to start a large project) but I would like to get the conversation going so we can work on becoming a more diverse and accepting professional body for all of our clients and colleagues