For the last few days, I’ve been in St. Louis at the Washington University Medical School campus to receive the School of OT Alumna award. It was at this school where my life was changed forever.

I flew into St. Louis a few days before school started and caught a taxi to the dorms. I asked the security guard Milton where the market was and naively decided to walk a few blocks there with no idea of the kind of neighborhood it was. I knew it wasn’t good when an armed guard stood at the front door.

Being a kid from the rural area of Oahu and going to a big city was a huge change but I wanted to study OT and build my toolbox to help people. I was truly inspired when I saw my quadriplegic professor, Dr. David Gray, exiting his accessible van that he had driven to school. I was in awe because I had never seen this in Hawaii.

I also learned that despite a disability, technology was advancing to accommodate that difference. The OT school had an accessible kitchen with many modifications where a wheelchair user could get into a cabinet or open drawer easily.

I learned a lot about our living and doing things aka “occupations” were key to bringing meaning to one’s life and how we thrive when there is flow. An occupational therapist is skilled at creating that flow when life gets interrupted through disability.

A big lesson I learned from school was one issue that did not take place in a class. As a local, there were few local food places here which meant I had to cook it myself. I found the kitchen in the penthouse of Olin dorm to prepare meals. It was hardly ever used so I would go there to cook.

The penthouse was also where many of the housekeepers took their breaks. It was there that I learned that racism was very much alive in 1997. I made friends with many of them over lunch and sharing of spam musubis. The two housekeepers I spoke to often was Stan and Sarah, both of whom were African American.

Stan would tell me how to be careful of certain areas of town where they faced harassment. Sarah would tell me how certain students in the dorm would make messes in the shower rooms or water fountains for them to clean up. I was shocked.

Wash U also has a program where you’re sent to a community-based organization to volunteer to gain experience. I was assigned to an orphanage called Our Little Haven. It was started to address the special needs of babies exposed to drugs, kids who were abused or had special needs. That experience of seeing these innocent lives already starting off disadvantaged was tough.

As I look back at those lessons, I realize now how they shaped my thinking about what I knew of the world. I was ignorant to the realities of so many issues that growing up in Hawaii sheltered me from. Racism and segregation had so many detrimental effects across the board and over so many generations. The same discrimination was happening towards those who were gay also, with Matthew Shepard’s murder. How can anyone live a full life in that kind of environment?

There comes a point where we have to acknowledge the truth of what happened in history. I was very pleased to see that there is a wall in the hospital complex dedicated to recognizing the wrongs of the past to help build a better future.

As I browsed the wall, this quote by Dr. Ross spoke to me. The important act of speaking out helps humanity. This is why we needed to have those conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion. It’s not about being “woke” but being aware of our systematic history of discrimination and to not repeat it.

As I went around town tonight and caught a Lyft back to my hotel, my driver was sharing a story about how he left Maritius through a lottery system. He obtained a degree in geology and with education, they can have the opportunity to come to the US on a green card. He took that as a way to get work experience.

My driver was telling me how he moved from Indianapolis to St. Louis and learned really quick about where not to drive. He said he had forgotten to avoid certain areas and made a mistake by heading in the north neighborhood where he saw guys walking around with guns and knew it was not safe. It made me realize that the effects of discrimination and segregation still exists to this day. Education and opportunity remain as a path to change this.

With the unfortunate election, that is quite unlikely as politics is squandering those conversations to help people reach their highest potential. Job cuts to research, education, and the disadvantaged will re-route us to repeat history yet again.

Humanity needs some major uplifting right now with reason and logic.