Sheela Roy Ivlev (she/her) is a Bengali American occupational therapist and the founder of DisruptOT, an international volunteer-based organization dedicated to disrupting the status quo in occupational therapy, challenging oppressive systems, and building community by highlighting global voices and providing free education and opportunities to students and practitioners worldwide. She lives in California.
It is essential that Indigenous people around the world take back their narrative and Sheela Ivlev provides a venue toward the process of decolonizing occupational therapy. Occupation means nothing without understanding the culture and even the complexity of the word occupation in various cultural contexts. Words do matter and the words need to be the words of each culture. Occupational therapy is at a crossroads in its development as to how viable and relevant it wants to be moving forward and leadership should read this book and have in depth conversations about the questions and issues it raises. I am so proud of Sheela Ivlev for doing this work with such passion. -- LaVonne Fox Peltier, Occupational Therapist Registered, PhD Higher Education & Leadership and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Turtle Mountain Community College Who is afraid of decoloniality? Who will be empowered by this book and who will feel threatened and bothered? Enveloping myriad global perspectives, 'Occupational Therapy Disruptors' goes beyond coloniality, to intentionally disrupt current OT discourses, epistemology and ontologies. Employing storytelling as a counterhegemonic methodology, Ivlev skilfully introduces ecologies of knowledge into the canon of OT knowledge. This volume will change the course of OT scholarship epistemologies and practice permanently. -- Dr Dave S.P. Thomas, Associate Professor, Inclusive Curriculum, Solent University First of its kind, this book is a must read for ALL occupational therapists as it flips the script and invites us to (un)learn from the voices that have long been dismissed and undervalued in our profession. Ivlev's analysis is refreshing and honest and should be centered in every OT curriculum as it challenges the dominant narratives (re)produced by ultra privileged global north perspectives that have been positioned as THE experts for far too long. This book makes space for multiple ways of understanding and doing occupational therapy. -- Angie Phenix and Kaarina Valavaara, Métis women and occupational therapists working in education and advocacy to promote Indigenous rights and equity for Indigenous Peoples in Canada.