A recording of a keynote address that I gave to the Occupational Therapy Australia Conference that took place remotely in Cairns, Queensland on 23 June 2021.
My address was on the following themes:
*The history of occupational therapy in Australia and how this differed from other countries, having had an initial Australian origin in the convict system and military government, whereas in Britain and the United States, it found its roots in charitable and religious origins;
*The importance of universal human rights for occupational therapy and the necessity to view professional activities of all kinds from the context of universal human rights that can be traced to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and the United Nations treaties that have followed; and
*The significance of occupational therapy for minorities, especially First Nations Peoples in Australia but also LGBTIQ Australians. And the importance of speaking up clearly and honestly about minority status and how this has sometimes led to injustices, measured against human rights standards.
