The best book I never read

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A pseudo-review of Occupational Therapy Without Borders: Learning from the Spirit of Survivors by Frank Kronenberg, BSc, OT, BA(Ed); Salvador Simo Algado, BSc, OT; and Nick Pollard, BA, DipCOT, MA, MSc(OT), Editors.


Ok, so the title might have gotten your attention, and you're thinking what the heck is he talking about? How can he recommend a book he's never read? Well boys and girls, I'm having some difficulty getting books to review and lo, and behold President Obama has yet to mail yours truly his personal share of the 800 billion dollar stimulus package. [I'm not holding my breath either.] SO, instead I will review my "impression" of the book based upon the Plenary Session I attended that was hosted by the book's lead editor and co-author, Frank Kronenberg as presented at the 86th AOTA conference a few years ago in Charlotte, NC.

Mr. Kronenberg is a Dutch occupational therapist with a keen interest in community-based intervention in areas of the world with dysfunctional environments and Coordinator of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists [WFOT] Community Based Rehabilitation project team. Mr. Kronenberg is also a joint founder of SPIRIT of SURVIVORS – Occupational Therapists Without Borders, an international network of proactive occupational therapists working towards occupational justice.

Listening to Mr. Kronenberg is truly a rare and exciting experience because of his obvious love for what he does. He possesses an extraordinary talent for inspiring people in our profession to go forth and occupy. In his case, showing people how to redirect their destinies by taking control of their daily life. His thesis professes to explain the reason for these dysfunctional situations as the principle of occupational apartheid - the separation between those who have meaningful, useful occupations and those who are deprived of or isolated from occupation or are otherwise constrained in their daily life (AOTA, 2009).

Many of us in our profession can be heard to say, what can we as OT's do about poverty, hunger, corrupt governments and ineffective public policy? Well, nothing really. We don' t have to affect these causes of dysfunctional environments. What we can affect is the attitudes of the people we choose to help! After all, we are simply a humble profession originally chartered in the U.S. to address a need for moral treatment for our vets and others with mental and physical health challenges. We are almost invisible despite the best efforts of the AOTA and many of our colleagues. Why is that? Perhaps this is where the book gains most of it's value. It's authors want to show us that we can make a difference using our strengths: our keen sense of observation and our belief that our clients can overcome their challenges by way of adaptation, accomodation and/or education. We have this incredible tool, this "therapeutic use of self", that is inexpensive, inspirational and effective. It is portable and adaptable. It is something that, if it doesn't belong to OT, then certainly was identified and perfected by OT. MY point is that we can take this tool, not unlike Doctors Without Borders take their skills, and go to the four corners of the Earth and make a difference doing what we do best. We will not make a difference by just giving our money and hoping somebody else will do what needs to be done. We can choose to be the architect of recovery for these needy people by injecting ourselves into our clients lives and showing them how they can take control and not depend on governments that are content to care for their people from "the cradle to the grave." After we do this, perhaps we can come back to our own country and see that this situation exists in our own backyards.


Mr. Kronenberg's book is a call to activism for the members of our profession. What we choose to do with our skills will define how the world sees our profession. Thus far in my own life, I have chosen to use my own skills to help older adults in my community become more independent in their own self-care to enable them to return home to the same or similar lifestyle that they had before we met. While this is a well-intentioned path to helping others, it is limited by the system we have created to pay for these services. OT and its interdisciplinary collegues have become slaves to a system that was originally intended to be a temporary stop gap during turbulent economic and political times. That last statement sounds a lot like what we face today, doesn't it? Perhaps we can stop addressing the pain and start to treat what caused the wound in the first place, preferrably before this country bleeds out. The theory of occupational apartheid seeks to identify that there are groups of disenfranchised individuals that are missing out on meaningful and purposeful activity because of segregation due to race, disability, age, gender, sexuality,religious preference, political preference, and creed (Wikipedia, 2009). In my own example, those who are outside the system because they do not qualify for medical coverage are being discriminated against because of their age, immigrant status or even their culture.

I, for one, plan on adding this book to my professional collection as soon as I can and attempting to integrate its principles into my own practice. I hope you will get it too, and read it!