SSIS Alum Pioneers New Ways to Help Wheelchair Users

In 2010, just months after his own spinal cord injury, Kunho Kim (‘12) started a service club at SSIS that donated wheelchairs to Vietnamese spinal cord injury patients with financial difficulties. This was the beginning of a lifelong endeavor to raise awareness about the challenges wheelchair users face.

Kunho’s latest project, Wheel Cards, uses NFT (non-fungible token) technology to raise money for various charities, scholarships, and grants to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. Last year, Wheel Cards even funded a scholarship program at Fulbright University Vietnam for students with disabilities.

A Life with Impact

Kunho’s commitment to dedicated service has endured since his school days. “Kunho was an inspiration to the students and teachers during his time here at SSIS. He modeled persistence and resilience,” recalls SSIS Teacher Regina Katz, who was the advisor of his service club. Kunho has been a wheelchair user since he suffered a skiing accident in Montana the summer before his Junior year.

While studying at Harvard, Kunho crossed the country to create a wheelchair-accessible travel guide. He also advocated to create Seoul’s first wheelchair-accessible metro map and has his own Youtube channel dedicated to wheelchair travel information.

The World’s First Disability-Related NFT Project

Wheel Cards raises money by selling NFTs called “rollies.” Rollies are stylized illustrations of disability rights activists. The project plans to release 10,000 rollies and gave away the first 100 to people who added accessibility information to locations on Google Maps, to promote this under-used feature that helps wheelchair users to travel.

“I hope our project can make the world more wheelchair accessible and understanding of people in wheelchairs,” says Kunho.

Dragons Give Back

Student-led service clubs at SSIS have produced incredible initiatives over the years. From funding construction projects in rural communities and heart surgeries for children, to English tutoring, our students know the value of giving back to their community.

We are so inspired by this young alum’s commitment to making life better for wheelchair users around the world, displaying the true character of an SSIS Dragon. We can’t wait to see what he does next!

You can learn more about Wheel Cards from the launch video below.