Putting values into practice: Intergenerational disability research

My mother was an immigrant who came to Hawaiʻi on a full academic scholarship for her PhD in Educational Psychology. She was the first in her family to leave Korea and receive higher education. After finishing her PhD, the University of Hawaiʻi offered her a position as a research professor. When I was 7 years old, she was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. We were told she had a 20% chance of living beyond 5 years. Cancer is a disease, not an identity. With our time together, she showed me how to accept whatever is outside of our control, and commit to a life aligned with our values. My mom was committed to her family, her career, and her health. She pursued evidence-based and experimental treatments in Western medicine and traditional medicine from Korean and Hawaiian culture. Ultimately, Western medicine extended her life, but it was cultural medicine that gave her comfort, meaning, and identity.

After the cancer spread to her brain, an occupational therapist helped transform our home with railings, shower chairs, and toilet raisers. I witnessed energy conservation strategies, compensatory cognitive approaches, eclectic art projects, and pain management techniques during her cancer journey. She lost her 12-year battle with cancer when I was a teenager. The grief of losing her still resonates, as it was 10 years since her passing in October 2025.

While growing up in Hawaiʻi, I found healing in nature. I would climb trees to stare at the leaves fluttering through streams of sunlight in the wind. I’d dive down to the coral reefs and let the ocean pull me closer to float in suspended reality. This is where I found my peace. My relationship with the natural world inspired me to study intersectional environmentalism, examining how social and environmental injustices are interconnected, for my undergraduate degree. After graduating, I spent years working in marine conservation for non-profits, private businesses, and government agencies. In America, there is a complicated relationship between our careers and our identity. While I was going through my quarter-life crisis, I desperately sought the guidance of my mother. What would she say of my life now? I would ask my father about her, seeking her wisdom through him. He spoke vaguely of her career accomplishments, “I don’t know. She was really smart. I couldn’t keep up with what she was doing.”

As my career in marine conservation progressed, I felt disconnected from my future due to the climate crisis, plastic pollution, and the rise of invasive species. I spent long hours writing emails and filling out spreadsheets. My work began to send me into spirals about life’s purpose. I felt small and lost, like all of my effort was meaningless. In my search for meaning, I started volunteering with a local non-profit, AccesSurf, to connect more with the ocean and kindred spirits. At my first “Day at the Beach” event, I met Ann Yoshida, an occupational therapist. She was teaching us how to safely transfer participants from the beach into the ocean using surfboards and beach wheelchairs. I admired her understanding of the ocean, thoughtful explanations of lived experiences, and, most of all, her ability to practice health care beyond the medical model. We celebrated, we surfed, we swam in the ocean. We felt alive and joyful. That day created meaning and magic in my life. I felt alive by having fun in nature while connecting to the people around me. While I honor my commitment to marine conservation, after that day, I knew that I needed to pivot my career.

I went home and Googled “occupational therapy” and it clicked for me — pun intended, there were lots of links/tabs involved — the more I learned about occupational therapy, the more aligned I felt as a human being. I get it now, people need people. When participating in meaningful activities, I moved through multiple dimensions of the human experience. A feeling so powerful there was no space and no choice, but to honor it. All that and more brings me where I am today.

Currently, I am 28 years old and deep into the first year of my doctorate of occupational therapy program. In my Scholarly Practice class, we were instructed to learn different types of academic studies and their components. While researching articles, I started to think, “I wonder if my mom ever published a paper.” So I typed her name,“Weol Soon Kim-Rupnow” into Google Scholar, and got 235 results. She is cited in current research 20 years later, because she published seminal work on the relationship of culture and disability. My eyes darted around the screen; she wrote a monograph of Korean culture for rehabilitation service providers (Kim-Rupnow, 2001), and research studies reporting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with disabilities are under-served in rehabilitation services (Kim-Rupnow et al., 2005), the impact of online learning for people with disabilities (Kim-Rupnow et al., 2009), and perceptions of students with disabilities using support services (Kim-Rupnow & Burgstahler, 2004). The list goes on. I am guided by her influence even when I am unaware of it.

During my grief journey, it did not occur to me to just search for my mother on Google Scholar. Instead, I searched for my mom in her favorite foods, watercolor paintings, clothes, and old photographs. I miss her often and seek her guidance, the way only a mother can comfort during times of uncertainty. There are many milestones that remind me of that core emptiness. An emptiness that words cannot describe, an emptiness that must continue living after the ones we love physically leave us. To lose our parents is a disorienting experience at any age. Our early caregivers teach us how to become human beings; they shape our worldview from the very beginning. To live in a world without them often feels unfathomable; our brains are wired to feel close to them.

One of my current assignments for Scholarly Practice is a systematic review on the facilitators and barriers of culturally responsive pediatric occupational therapy interventions (Abores et al., 2025). This topic resonates deeply with me, as it reflects the values and passion of my mother’s work. In many ways, I feel closer to her now than ever before. My purpose in sharing our story is to inspire others to explore how their ancestors shape their worldview and how occupational therapy can honor cultural influences in our service to others. I am profoundly grateful to be in a graduate program that allows me to honor her legacy through my own contributions to culture and disability research. This opportunity has allowed me to communicate with her through time, to read her words, to carry on her story. We continue our bond through our love of learning and empowering future generations. As I navigate the intersection of grief and purpose, I am continually reminded that this path, while unexpected, is absolutely where I am meant to be. Carrying her values forward in my own work feels not just meaningful, but destined.

References

Abores, A., Jump, A., Rupnow, H., & Schorlig, C. (2025). Culturally responsive pediatric occupational therapy interventions: A systematic review. Hawaiʻi Pacific University. https://www.hpu.edu/gchs/otd/honolulu/scholarly-work/files/2026/group-7.pdf

Kim-Rupnow, W. S. (2001). An introduction to Korean culture for rehabilitation service providers (Monograph). Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information & Exchange. https://ecommons.cornell.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/16bdfa0c-cfed-415a-8711-415161ec2de5/content

Kim-Rupnow, W. S., & Burgstahler, S. (2004). Perceptions of students with disabilities regarding the value of technology-based support activities on postsecondary education and employment. Journal of College Student Development, 45(3), 219–234. https://doi.org/10.1177/016264340401900204

Kim-Rupnow, W. S., Dowrick, P. W., & Burke, L. S. (2001). Implications for improving access and outcomes for individuals with disabilities in postsecondary distance education. American Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 25–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/08923640109527072

Kim-Rupnow, W. S., Park, H. C., & Starbuck, D. E. (2005). Status overview of vocational rehabilitation services for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 23(1), 21–30. https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-2005-00293

Hana Kim Rupnow is a first-year Doctoral Occupational Therapy student at Hawaiʻi Pacific University. She is endlessly curious about the human experience and passionate about culturally responsive healthcare. Hana’s hobbies are collecting hobbies, any type of movement in nature, crafting, and volunteering in her local community.