Toward a Critical Occupational Therapy Education: A DisCrit-Informed Framework

Document Type (Journals)

Theory

Abstract

Occupational therapy has long articulated commitments to equity, inclusion, and occupational justice, yet its dominant educational approaches often remain focused on interpersonal competence rather than structural analysis. This conceptual paper argues that contemporary occupational therapy education is insufficiently equipped to prepare practitioners to address the sociopolitical forces shaping occupational participation. Drawing on disability critical race theory (DisCrit), critical pedagogy, intersectionality, and occupational justice scholarship, the authors propose the Critical Occupational Therapy Education (COTE) framework as a structural, justice-oriented reorientation for occupational therapy education. COTE positions racism and ableism as interlocking systems that shape professional norms, knowledge production, and access to occupation, among others. The framework is organized around eight tenets spanning stance, process, and action, including power literacy, structural reflexivity, co-creation of knowledge, epistemic decolonization, and political praxis. These tenets are operationalized through recursive critical moves that support naming structures, problematizing the profession, reframing occupation as sociopolitical, and linking critique to action. In addition, the paper outlines implications for curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, fieldwork, and faculty development; it emphasizes community partnership, counter-storytelling, and policy engagement. COTE does not replace existing approaches such as cultural humility; rather, it deepens them by providing historical and political grounding. Reframing education as an inherently political process, the framework invites the profession to move beyond neutrality and toward a deeper understanding of structural competence. COTE offers a pathway for preparing occupational therapists to recognize and respond to structurally produced inequities as a core dimension of ethical occupational practice.

Biography

Robert Niewiadomski, PhD, EdD is an Associate in Bilingual Education at the New York State Education Department and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the City College (CUNY). He previously served as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Fordham University. His scholarship focuses on the educational experiences of marginalized groups.

Chia-Yang Chiang, OTD, OTR/L is an Adjunct Professor at New York University with over 20 years of clinical expertise. He has served as a Senior Occupational Therapist for New York City Public Schools for over a decade, focusing on pediatric practice, school-based therapy, and clinical mentorship.

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Recommended Citation

Niewiadomski, R., & Chiang, C. (2026). Toward a Critical Occupational Therapy Education: A DisCrit-Informed Framework. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 10 (3). Retrieved from https://encompass.eku.edu/jote/vol10/iss3/18