First Day of the School Year - Well, For This Therapist, Anyway...

It is that time of year again. It is the start of the parade of first day of school pictures on Facebook, and I am heading back to work after a week and a couple of days off. It is full moon day (it is shining brightly outside my window right now), and you will not be getting a first day picture from me. I don't often take selfies, and I have already taken my limit for the year getting my passport application ready.

I was able to wake up before the alarm this morning. Good sign. I am up and writing at 5am. Good sign. The moon is gorgeous. Good sign. I am going to go around the house picking up things that I will need in the next couple of days. I will be going to my room to clean up a bit and then welcome the next intern to the music therapy program. I am not quite ready to return to the daily grind of work and supervising and all that, but work is inevitable, so it is futile to resist.

I wrote a bit ago about a blog post that I found on the difference between being disinterested in something or excluded from something. This post has been on my mind as part of my vision about all sorts of things - my own music therapy practice, the state of our professional organization, and lots of other things. There is a significant difference between being excluded from something and being disinterested.

I believe that we should strive to limit exclusion from all sorts of situations. In an ideal society, all needs of all humans would be accommodated so all could participate. I am becoming more and more interested in the concepts of Universal Design and how it applies to music therapy. One thing that keeps sticking with me, though, is that even if things are arranged to decrease exclusion, there are still some who will not engage. That is the disinterested part of this equation. 

So, what does this mean for us as a profession? There are some people who will never be members of the professional organization no matter how many accommodations are made to include them. That is a choice that is in front of all of us at all times. We have the option to walk away from any situation that doesn't work for us. But, we have to be able to make that choice and not have it made for us by people who will not welcome us no matter what. So, are the two situations mutually exclusive?

I wonder what needs to happen to our professional organization to become less exclusive. It makes me wonder what the barriers are to begin with. Cost is something that is repeated over and over again. Personally, I find that there is a lack of clinical resources available for those of us who are not part of academia. There are plenty of things for students and professors but not as much for those of us who have clinical jobs. I know that some feel excluded because of their identities. 

There isn't an easy answer to how to become more inclusive and less exclusive. The point is that, even if the association starts from scratch, there will still be some folks who will be excluded until we find a utopian society. All we can do is strive for that inclusion with every single situation that comes up. Even if that happens, though, there are people who will opt not to engage.

Being disinterested is not a problem unless the disinterested use their disinterest to manipulate others into doing things with no interest in ever being a part of the organization. Isn't it interesting that there are some out there who will make demands without planning to be part of the better organization that they are demanding.

Just some "back to school pondering." I will develop this thought a bit more in the upcoming weeks. Happy Thursday.