[blindLaw] Structural barriers faced by blind legal professionals in the developed world

Tue Oct 1 21:43:25 UTC 2019

Thanks, Paul. I think that is great advice, and I might do that for a while to pursue any interesting opportunities that become available after my course and scholarship end. I do, however, have to make the fundamental choice of whether I’d like to go down the path of becoming a barrister or not upfront - there can be no halfway house there.

Rahul

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 1, 2019, at 11:19 AM, Paul Harpur <p.harpur at law.uq.edu.au> wrote:
> 
> I teach law in Australia so have had similar discussions with students going back to a range of countries.  My suggestion is try to stay for a short while, as if you leave you will find it hard to come back, but if you stay for a bit you increase your opportunities.  
> 
> Dr Paul Harpur
> BBus (HRm), LLB (Hons) LLM, PhD, solicitor of the High Court of Australia (non-practicing)
> Fulbright Future Scholar/International Distinguished Fellow, Burton Blatt Institute, SU, New York.
> Senior Lecturer
>  
> TC Beirne School of Law
> The University of Queensland
> Brisbane Qld 4072 Australia
>  
> T +61 7 3365 8864 M +61 417 635 609
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlindLaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rahul Bajaj via BlindLaw
> Sent: Tuesday, 1 October 2019 7:46 PM
> To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Rahul Bajaj <rahul.bajaj1038 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [blindLaw] Structural barriers faced by blind legal professionals in the developed world
> 
> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I was following the conversation on discrimination closely. This is because it is linked to a question that I have been wrestling with for some months now.
> 
> As some of you may know, I am from India and am qualified to practice law there. Last year, however, I moved to England, to pursue my postgraduate legal education [in India, law is taught at the undergraduate level] at the University of Oxford on the Rhodes Scholarship. My scholarship ends next summer, and I have to decide whether I'd like to go back to India or stay on in England, at least in the near future.
> 
> One crucial factor, though not the controlling one, for me is the accessibility of the legal profession in the two countries and the possibility of obtaining the reasonable accommodations that I require.
> My question for you, therefore, is this: To what extent, in your assessment, has your country of residence [which, for most of you is the U.S.,] impacted your professional prospects, access to reasonable accommodations and quality of life as a blind lawyer?
> 
> I understand, of course, that many of you have not experienced the counterfactual of operating in a different jurisdiction and may not have a good comparator against which to evaluate your experience. What I am hoping to understand, however, is how much of the above is a function of the country that you live in per se versus the micro environment that one operates in i.e. one's financial position, degree of influence, skill/ ability, rapport with one's employer, etc.
> 
> India does have a long way to go in creating a level playing field for blind lawyers, notwithstanding unceasing efforts by some of us to change the landscape. That said, I do think that the micro environment in India will be a lot more suitable for me, because I do have most of the above-mentioned factors going for me. Plus, being an Oxford educated lawyer with a prestigious scholarship does give you access to the upper echelons of the Profession, if you work in that direction. I do not state this boastfully, just as an objective fact. On the other hand, in England, the macro environment does appear a lot more conducive for blind professionals. Reasonable adjustments are firmly guaranteed by law. Folks aren't dealing with the same volume of cases or workload as they are in India, meaning that accessibility does not get sacrificed at the altar of productivity. Most stakeholders are far more well-resourced than they are in India.
> 
> On the micro level, I will have to establish myself in the profession in England, and will, in that sense, be one of the many lawyers on the block. In other words, I may not have the same amount of traction as I would in India. I look forward to hearing your reflections on the above issues. Thank you.
> 
> Best,
> Rahul
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> --
> Rahul Bajaj
> Candidate for the BCL
> Rhodes Scholar (India and Linacre 2018)
> University of Oxford
> 
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