Occupational Therapists believe that everyone deserves to live their lives the way they want. We collaborate with individuals at different phases of their lives to understand their goals, identify their capabilities and equip them with skills and resources to participate. It could be as ordinary as supporting teenagers with anxiety symptoms to cope with different stressors in school; or as complicated as training a lady with spinal cord injury to use speech-to-text technology and other assistive technologies to draft emails. 

 

Some participation goals can only be actualized by concerted efforts from various stakeholders. Many elderly envisioned spending their later years in their own homes and neighbourhoods. To support ageing-in-place, Occupational Therapists worked with the Housing Development Board and its contractors to roll out home modifications across Singapore to build elderly-friendly houses. To enable people with varying mobility status to access different spaces, Occupational Therapists were involved in the review of Code of Accessibility in 2017 with Building Construction Authority, Singapore. 

 

Alongside differently-abled individuals and community partners, Occupational Therapists in Singapore have been promoting participation in a myriad of ways.