Two members of the AbleOTUK team, Georgia Vine @GeorgiaVineOT and Natalie Hicks @nataliehixy

It’s been a whole year since the launch of AbleOTUK which took place 27th July 2021, during Disability Pride Month. This year for Disability Pride Month @AbleOTUK have been sharing ways to be an ally and reflecting on what we have achieved this past year.  

The main aim of AbleOTUK is to provide a voice and safe space for Occupational Therapy Practitioners, Students, Researchers and Educators, who have lived experience of disability or long term health conditions. Yet a big part of what we do is educating others about ableism within occupational therapy and how collectively we can dismantle this.  You can find out more by visiting our website

It is really important to us as an affinity group that we think more about our allies and what allyship means. Throughout July we have shared examples of what allyship looks like on our social media platforms using the hashtag #BeAnAbleOTUKAlly

We thought what better way to round the month by reflecting on what we have all learnt this year from AbleOTUK? Join us as we all reflect on our learning and the positive changes made to not just highlight ableism but to get recognised as an affinity group. We will highlight the fact that occupational therapists have disabilities too and the utter joy it is to be a part of the disabled community this Disability Pride Month! 

Going forward we will look onto the year ahead and what lies ahead for AbleOTUK by asking the profession what they need from us. 

Definition of Ableism – Discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. At its heart, ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability. 

Definition of Ally and Allyship – Someone who helps and supports other people who are part of a group that is treated badly or unfairly, although they are not themselves a member of this group.  Cambridge English dictionary.  

Questions:

1. What have you learnt this year about ableism?
2. What positive changes have you and your organisation made this year to address ableism? 
3. What would you like to see from AbleOTUK this next year?
4. What are your goals for next year to address ableism?In an ideal world, what would you like to see from the profession moving forward?

Reference

Campbell, K. F. (2009). Contours of Ableism. Palgrave Macmillan: London. [Online.] Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230245181_2

Palacios, M. R. (2017). Internalised Ableism. The Other Side of Ableism. [Online.] Retrieved from https://cripstory.wordpress.com/2017/07/06/the-other-side-of-ableism/ 

Scope. (n.d.). Disablism and Ableism. [Online.] Retrieved from https://www.scope.org.uk/about-us/disablism/

Ableism 101: What it is, what it looks like, and what we can do to to fix it (online) retrieved from https://www.accessliving.org/newsroom/blog/ableism-101/

Celebrating Disability Pride Month https://www.afb.org/blog/entry/celebrating-disability-pride-month

https://www.capability.scot/news/341-disability-pride-month

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