I did my case study on a guy named Bradley Walker. Bradley is a country music singer. Bradley was born with congenital myopathy, a form of muscular dystrophy. His diagnosis is non-progressive so he has been able to live a full life. He was diagnosed at birth and has been using a wheelchair his whole life. He dreams of being a famous singer so he is working around his muscle weakness in order to achieve his dreams. In my study, I focused on creating goals that that would help him gain independent living and mobility via a modified van. Mainly, I looked into ways that to work with this disabilities to help him accomplish the occupations and roles he deemed important.
Bradley said, "I’ve
never questioned the hand I was dealt. If I hadn’t been dealt this hand, I
might not have been given the gift of music that I love so much, and I wouldn’t
be singing bluegrass to people. So I wouldn’t change a thing." This struck me because his occupation of singing was more important to him than his ability to walk. I think this is a key lesson for me as a future occupational therapist to learn. Sometimes helping people gain an occupation means so much more to them than their functional ability.
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