Am I degrading myself by becoming an Occupational Therapy istant?

You have to do whatever you truly think you want to do with your life, you can't always listen to other people on these types of things. If Occupational Therapy is what you want then go for it. It is not degrading in any way, specially if you have a pion for it. When you have a pion for something you will make the best out of that career.