Post on 28-Dec-2015
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Snapshots from lives with polio contrasted
with shifts in paradigms of Occupational Therapy
Appearance
Disappearance
Reappearance
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Introduction• Prologue – project design• Appearance – stories about having polio in
the 40s and 50s and how we discovered occupational therapy – 20 years with disability – the main focus of today
• Disappearance – stories about being an occupational therapist – 30 years ignoring disability
• Reappearance – stories about having post polio syndrome – 10 years as ageing occupational therapists acknowledging disability
• Epilogue
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
We found significant coincidences – we were both:• born in the early 1940s • contracted polio before the age of five • had early contact with occupational therapy• undertook occupational therapy education in
1960s• did not acknowledge disability for a long period• worked intensively as occupational therapy
educators • took early retirement because of post polio
syndrome
PrologueBefore the Project Started
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
PrologueBefore the Project Started
Differences in personal circumstances
• One was born in Egypt, but lived and worked in Scotland
• One was born, lived and worked in Denmark
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
ProloguePurpose
To provide some ideas about
• How life can be lived to the full, even if a person has limited physical resources
• How and why bodily limitations and symptoms may be denied/ignored
• How individual life is interwoven with time and place
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
PrologueProject Design
Development and analysis of both autobiographies/life-stories to create a common narrative touching on where our lives with chronic disease are contrasted with shifts in paradigms of occupational therapy
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
PrologueTime Table
The project started in 2005 and will be completed in 2007.
What we present here are our interim results
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
PrologueKey Points
Ulla
• Born 1941, polio 1943, occupational therapist 1967, teacher 1971, manager 1981, and retired 2002.
Ann
• Born 1944, polio 1948, occupational therapist 1965, teacher 1985, manager 1990, and retired 2001
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Appearance 40s and 50s
Our every day lives were interrupted by long stays in hospitals and by treatment with consequences for our
• relatives
• learning processes
• future careers
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Appearance 40s and 50s
The opening remark from each of our occupational therapists was:
‘What do you want and need to do?’
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Appearance 40s and 50s
‘Doing’ and ‘creativity’ were key words for us and our occupational therapists
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Appearance 40s and 50s
1. The impact of 'doing' combined with 'creativity' on us as patients?
The process prevented us from
• boredom
• dependency
• loneliness/isolation
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Appearance 40s and 50s
2. The impact of ‘doing’ in combination with ‘creativity’ on us as patients?
The process enabled us to
• structure a daily rhythm
• have control
• have relationships with people
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Appearance 40s and 50s
At this time craftwork was the main medium in OT intervention
'We made soft toys, leatherwork and baskets for satisfaction, challenge, presents, selling and fun'
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Appearance 40s and 50s
Doing, creativity and occupational therapy – for us it meant rescue
doingcreativity
occupational therapy
rescue
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Disappearance 60s, 70s, 80s
We both became occupational therapists in the 60s and have lived our lives with husbands, children and jobs, and without many functional limitations for several decades. We almost forgot about our disease and old diagnosis.
Professionally we both experienced disquiet with medically influenced OT paradigms
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Reappearance90s
Both became occupational therapy educatorsBoth embraced a variety of different
professional roles over many years. For both, problems with functional limitations,
pain and fatigue difficulties became visible: Neither could hide our problems from ourselves
Both were labelled with the diagnosis post polio syndrome 50 years after the original diagnosis of polio
We again became users of the health care system
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
EpilogueShared discoveries: • no sparing of pain to ignore our disability and
deny our limitations over many years – a neglect syndrome
• the 'doing aspect' in occupational therapy combined with ‘creativity’ has been important for us
• shifts of paradigms in the western world are universal, but displaced in time depending on the context
• our journey during this exploration has been a very difficult, sometimes painful, engaging, personal, and intellectual process
WFOT Sydney 2006 Ann Carnduff and Ulla Runge
Epilogue
Thank you for your attention – Further contact
• Ann Carnduff, Scotland
Mail: carnduff@btinternet.com
• Ulla Runge, Denmark
Mail: bur@private.dk