Occupation is not a Cross‐Cultural Universal: Some Reflections From an Ethnographer

First Nations person illustrates that occupational access often falls by the wayside when mainstream assumptions about the nature of occupation and the criteria for occupational success remain unexamined. The possibility of cross‐cultural miscommunication needs to be addressed explicitly, particularly when applicant and client population differ from the cultural background of interviewers. Occupational success depends at least as much on the match between applicant and clients as on abstract and generalized criteria defining occupation and job description. Increased sensitivity to cultural barriers to occupational access and success provides challenging opportunities to extend the parameters of occupational research and thus to make it more inclusive. This opens up the possibility of training in effective cross‐cultural communication as well as opportunities for research on barriers in particular cases.