Content area
Full text
Measures being taken to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus have disrupted the lives of countless millions of people around the world. For many of us, life "before" seemed seductively predictable, our diaries full of the appointments, commitments, events, and trips that constituted an envisioned future. And then everything changed.
For the many people who share with me the experience of social privilege that accompanies our class, educational, professional, cis-gendered, and "able" statuses, it has been frustrating to endure, albeit temporarily, the sort of deprivation of occupational opportunities usually reserved for disabled people and others marginalized and disempowered by poverty, racism, and the legacies of colonialism-people for whom life is consistently unpredictable and fraught with uncertainty. Now, much of the population is sharing a fear of financial uncertainty and concerns about obtaining food and other necessities. Experiences that have constituted everyday life for many of those on the margins are now shared by the majority population: the lack of opportunity to access educational and employment settings; the inability to access buildings, libraries, public spaces, as well as arts, cultural, social, recreational, and other public resources; and the loss of opportunity to move freely within our own communities or around the world. These constraints on the abilities and freedoms many formerly viewed as rights and entitlements-and fear of the virus itself- have left intense feelings of anxiety and uncertainty.
Fortunately, as occupational therapists, we already possess the knowledge required to fully engage in life despite the current, formidable challenges. We have had the opportunity to learn from the experiences of so many clients whose seemingly predictable lives-and the mundane, taken-forgranted expectations, plans, and routines that had structured those lives-have been disrupted by factors beyond their control, such...