Amanda Parezo thought she viewed the world through the lens of an occupational therapist before her spinal cord injury. After a stray bullet left her permanently disabled in May 2021, the assistant professor of occupational therapy now sees the world much differently.

Parezo is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair for transportation. Every day, she says she’s faced with environmental barriers, physical and mental exhaustion, and discrimination or misperceptions because of her disability. 

“If I am an OT and I didn’t see these things before my injury,” Parezo says, “how are other people supposed to notice?”

Committed to raising awareness and increasing accessibility, she infuses her experiences as a rehab patient and disability advocate into the classroom to help her students become better occupational therapy practitioners.

This video below provides an intimate look at Parezo’s four-year spinal cord injury recovery as she learned to be independent at home, returned to the workplace and reclaimed her identity as an advocate, not a victim.