What I first noticed when looking for a piece from the mainstream media about occupational therapy- besides the fact that it's hard to find much about occupational therapy through Google without being lead to the American Occupational Therapy Association website or similar pages specifically for occupational therapy- is that articles were typically either about occupational therapists working with children in schools, or occupational therapists working with the elderly. The articles rarely talked about how those in the field can work with both of these groups, as well as everyone in between.
     One article that does address the different areas that occupational therapists may work with was Occupational therapy: Seeing patients overcome obstacles is biggest reward from the Chicago Tribune, but this article was written about two different occupational therapists and with the point of informing people about the whole scope of OT, while most of the articles from sources such as the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and the LA Times were not written with much input from actual occupational therapists. Rather, most of the articles I came across were about what the author had heard about occupational therapy from people whose child saw an occupational therapist in school, or those whose elderly parents had worked with an occupational therapist in their nursing home.
     Another common type of article that I found during my search was those that ranked occupational therapy on lists such as "Top 10 Upcoming Jobs" or those that focused on the average salary of occupational therapists. In reality, though, the pay is usually not the main reason why someone wants to pursue a career in occupational therapy. Most people who are interested in occupational therapy want to help people in one way or another, whether that is through a private clinic for pediatrics, school systems, mental health facilities, outpatient clinics for all ages, hospitals, or nursing homes. While of course the money is nice, I firmly believe that many people working as occupational therapists or occupational therapy assistants would be fully invested in their career no matter what they were paid. Occupational therapists do what they do because they have a desire to change the world, one client at a time.