Kate Agnes
Hometown
Long Island, New York
Undergraduate Major
Exercise Science
Switching from Physical to Occupational
Physical therapy has a lot more of a biomechanical approach versus occupational therapy. Occupational therapy has the biomechanical approach, of course, but it's also very holistic. We really do look at like the whole person instead of the "part of the person." We really take into account everything about someone when thinking of interventions and treatments, and we also cover a little bit of a broader scope. So, we don't just cover physical disabilities or physical impairments. We also do cognitive impairment, as well, like traumatic brain injury, which could be a coming from a stroke, which could be physical and mental impairments. It could be kids with autism.
There's a whole really big spectrum of what OT does.
A Future of Advocacy and Inclusion in Education
A big part of OT is being an advocate for patients, and in my case, I'll be an advocate for kids specifically in the school system, because a lot of kids have these impairments that kind of fly under the radar because they're not as black and white or are not as evident as other impairments might be.
Seeing kids fall through the cracks and not doing well in school and having "poor behavior," or being a "problem kid," when in reality they just weren't getting the resources, and they weren't in the environment that they needed to be to thrive.
I really want to advocate for them in the sense of explaining and pushing for better procedures in schools to get them those resources and hopefully... helping push more laws and legislation.
Surrounded by Diversity
In order to be the best practitioner that you can be, you really need that diverse view of the world and you really need to understand people on a more personal level. Through the community sites, we really have been given that opportunity. They've definitely introduced everybody to different perspectives and different types of people that you may have not encountered in your life before.
There's been so many different opportunities that have arisen, like, we just did the Easter Egg Roll, which was the first-time in 145 years that they were pushing for better accessibility for children attending the event.
Being in this environment is really inspiring.