A Korean-American perspective on occupational therapy education in NYC

Los Angeles (LA) is home to the largest number of ethnic Koreans outside of Korea (Pew Research Center, 2021), and as a Korean-American growing up in LA, I always felt safe and secure there. My communities consisted of people who looked like me and grew up with the same values, so when I started occupational therapy (OT) school in New York City, the lack of racial diversity was shockingly new to me. It was the first time I felt that not being White meant I was smaller and less than. Sometimes before I entered the classroom, I mentally prepared myself because I expected to experience or witness racial microaggressions, which are subtle, seemingly harmless, and often unintentional expressions of prejudice, bias, or discrimination (Sue et al., 2007). Other times, I looked around and realized that I was the only person of color in a group of a dozen White students, so I suddenly began to feel embarrassed about my culture and the color of my skin. In these moments, I wanted to stand up for myself, but as a Korean-American I was taught the values of community: maintaining peace, staying quiet, being adaptable, and respecting authority. The clash between my two cultures became frustrating as I began to ask, “If I can’t even fight for myself, how will I be able to fight for my patients as a future practitioner?”