Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: F irst, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you today.It is a great pleasure and honour to be asked to speak to you all, and on a topic that is a real passion of mine.The nature of keynotes is that they are generally one sided with you just listening to me for the next hour or so, but I am going to ask you do a bit more than just listen.As the conference comes to an end today, I hope my paper might bring a few ideas together, give you some different ways of considering the issues of concern, and stimulate lots more thought as we go back to work next week.Several decades ago, Mary Reilly (1962) proposed, perhaps quite boldly, that occupational therapy could be one of the great ideas of the 20th Century.While many of us might agree that the sentiment of her claim was completely reasonable and achievable, it is my view that her prophecy has not been completely realised even now as we sit in the 21st Century (Molineux & Baptiste, in press).I think, however, that there is a real chance that we can finally realise her dream.In fact I would go so far as to suggest that it is our responsibility to make sure that occupational therapy is one of the great ideas of the 21st Century.There are probably many reasons for why her vision has not been realised, and I will raise some of those with you later, but it is my view that the key reason is that as occupational therapists we have not been able to respond effectively to the changing world around us; that we have not been able to stand firm on the shifting sands.Now before I go on I want to clarify something so you can see that I am not just being a grumpy, old, awkward academic.First, since being back in Australia I have had the chance to review some of the memorabilia that my parents are still patiently keeping for me in Brisbane.Recently I was looking back over some of my school yearbooks and found the book for Year 12 -no comments on the picture!Now hard as it may be for you to believe looking at that face, many years ago in the United Kingdom I was labelled, publicly, as the antichrist of the profession.You see, some people Standing firm on shifting sands
Source: Griffith Research Online
Author: Matthew Molineux
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Eye Institute
OpenAlex ID: W20164456