ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog

Three years ago a controversial bylaws change was suggested for the American Occupational Therapy Association that granted the Board of Directors powers to revoke memberships based on complaint of other members and a finding of 'cause.'  This issue was fully discussed and documented in this blog at the time of the release of the proposal. As is the rule for all Bylaws changes, they need to be voted on by the membership, which happens at the subsequent Business Meeting.  That meeting happened in Chicago at the annual conference and is summarized in these minutes  with a synopsis of the specific issue at hand following: President Stoffel recognized Dawn Sonnier, Chairperson of the BPPC, to present a summary of the proposed Bylaws revisions. Chairperson Sonnier moved to adopt the revised Association Bylaws. President Stoffel opened the floor for discussion. The following members rose to speak to the motion: – Reggie Campbell (TX) spoke in opposition. Nicholas Han...

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE It is important for the occupational therapy profession to understand that there was close collaboration between the RA leadership and the AOTA Board of Directors leading up to the Fall meeting.  As such, the Board of Directors may have been able to shape and form the agenda and the response to motions long before they ever were formally discussed by the RA members. The reason why Motion One on dual entry was killed was by what appears to be coordinated table setting engaged in by the AOTA Board of Directors, facilitated by the RA Leadership team, and then followed by those RA members who bothered to participate. Timeline:  8/14/18: AOTA signals to ACOTE that it still supports the doctoral single point of entry but just lacks the evidence to support the decision. 8/23/18: AOTA member contacts RA rep about dual entry motion. 8/24/18: Speaker Debi Hinerfeld indicates that AOTA staff are working "behind the scenes" to guide RA members in ...