Asian/Pacific Occupational Therapists of Illinois

 The mission of Asian/Pacific Occupational Therapists of Illinois is to create a means for occupational therapy practitioners to advance a greater understanding of Asian/Pacific cultural issues affecting Occupational Therapy practice. 

 Our goals are: 

• to serve as a liason for Occupational Therapy practitioners with concerns about Asian/Pacific cultural issues affecting Occupational Therapy practice 
• to promote scholarly activities and research on Asian/Pacific cultural issues affecting the field of Occupational Therapy 
• to support occupational therapy practitioners immigrating from Asian/Pacific countries with the transition and integration to American Occupational Therapy practice; to help interpret different Asian languages and mentor others interested in the Occupational Therapy profession 

• to recruit minorities to the Occupational Therapy profession

Hispanic Occupational Therapists of Illinois (HOTI)

 HOTI, the Hispanic Occupational Therapists of Illinois, was founded in 1987 by a small, but committed group of therapists and students.

 Our goals are: 

• to recruit Latinos into the Occupational Therapy profession through the use of positive role modeling, mentorship, and professional and educational activities 

• to increase public awareness of Occupational Therapy through the involvement in social, cultural, educational, and health promotion activities in Latino communities and to enhance the occupational therapy service to Latinos. 

• We promote occupational therapy through Career Day activities in the schools and community colleges with large minority bases, organize preadmission counseling for minority students, develop mentoring activities, and publish awareness of occupational therapy professional and community publications.  If interested, please contact Dora Peters at irisman3@msn.com

Illinois Caucus of Black Occupational Therapists (ICOBOT) 

Illinois caucus of Black OT's (ICOBOT) is a non-for-profit organization founded in 1988 by Margo Strotter, OTR/L.  The purpose of ICOBOT is to promote networking of African-American Occupational Therapist throughout Illinois and help provide support to African American students in Occupational Therapy Programs. 

Our goals are: 

• to increase the representation of African Americans in the profession of Occupational Therapy 

• to provide a forum for interchange of ideas and information among members 

• to foster the development of professional growth 

• to address the issues and/or concerns of occupational therapy students and provide a resource for Occupational Therapy students 

• to increase the awareness of ICOBOT and its functions and resources to potential members

The Practitioners with Disabilities Network Group

The Illinois practitioners with disabilities networking group is in its infancy.  We look forward to future growth and being part of the greater AOTA Multicultural Task Force.  Our mission thus far established is to increase personal and professional awareness of people with disabilities through education and advocacy.  For further information please, contact Laura Obara at lalao@prodigy.net

Network for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns in Occupational Therapy

The network group is a group of Occupational Therapist and Occupational Therapy Assistants and Occupational therapy students committed to build a bridge of understanding about lesbian, gay and bisexual concerns to AOTA's membership at large.  The network includes colleagues of all sexual orientations who endorse its mission.

  The mission is to identify, support and mentor one another; to promote scholarship and research in Occupational Therapy; to serve as a resource to the AOTA membership on questions pertaining to sexual orientation.  The Network is against "outing" members who wish to maintain privacy regarding their sexual orientation.