Many a times I have been asked the same old question: What is an OT?
To make things a lil more simpler, I’d say take a psychologist and mix it with a physiotherapist, and voila! You have an Occupational Therapist or OT for short.
Another question people always ask me is: Why did you choose to study OT?
I suppose there is no way to cut this story short. It was by chance that I found out about it and till this day, pondered about the many what ifs, if I hadn’t chosen to take up this course.
The most common mistaken assumption people make when I mention OT is overtime. True, many Occupational Therapists do overtime (OT doing OT 
) but that is totally besides the point.
An OT basically is a member of the allied health profession, which provides services for various client groups, ranging from people with a disability right down to corporate sectors. Right about now is when you’re scratching your head, thinking “That’s like a jack of all trades” and I’d have to agree with you.
We OTs practically are physios and psychologists in some of the things we do, but legally we’re not allowed to do what these people do. For certain OTs, they specialize in different areas, such as pediatrics or geriatrics and deal solely with their client group. An OT can do home assesments of how safe a person’s home is, to make sure that they can lead a meaningful life, with the least interuptions in their routines.
It certainly is a very complicated thing to grasp, since I can assure you this field isn’t that big in Malaysia. So far, everyone that I’ve talked to hasn’t heard of this profession before; minus the people who have lived overseas for a while. But over here in Australia, there is an acute shortage of OTs, so much so that the government here is encouraging migrants who have OT degrees to migrate here and work in the health care sector for them.
Which is the direction I’m heading towards, working on finishing my degree, getting my PR and citizenship and hopefully gaining a Masters degree or pHD by the time I’m 35. So far in the past semester in 1st year, it has really opened my eyes towards how much people are suffering each and everyday and how little has been done, and especially how much more can be done. Even simple things like education means a lot to certain client groups.
I can go on and on, at risk of sounding like one of my lecturers, or I could leave you with one question: What have you done today for the benefit of others?
