ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog

A recent article in The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy caught my attention: “ Doing Drag: Exploring the Experiences of Drag as an Occupation for Performers in California. ” I want to start with a point of clarity: I do not object to anyone studying drag. It can definitely be studied as an occupation. It involves preparation, performance, costume, makeup, role construction, social interaction, community participation, identity expression, skill, and meaning. There is no serious argument that drag is not something people do, or that it cannot be examined through an occupational lens. But I still scratch my head a little at the topics that seem to get elevated for study. There is no reliable national estimate of drag performers, in part because drag often occurs outside formal occupational categories. But by any reasonable comparison, drag is a niche performance occupation, while ordinary occupations involve hundreds of thousands or millions of people. That raises a question: wh...

I read the recent AJOT article, “ Occupational Therapy in Crisis, ” with interest and some frustration. Interest, because I agree with the basic premise. Occupational therapy is in a period of identity instability. The profession is struggling with questions about its theoretical base, its view of humans, its scope of practice, and its methods of creating change. Those are not small questions - they are the questions that define a profession. Frustration, because this crisis did not suddenly appear in 2026. I have been writing and presenting about these same tensions for years, often in less formal spaces and often without the kind of protective language that makes professional journals comfortable. So, welcome to the crisis conversation. I actually mean that sincerely. I am glad the issue is being named in AJOT. I am glad the word “crisis” is being used. I am glad there is some recognition that occupational therapy may not have a shared understanding of what it is, what it does, or ho...