[blindLaw] Law Firm Accommodations

Sun Jan 16 12:46:19 UTC 2022

Did that race confidentialities concerns?

On Sat, Jan 15, 2022 at 4:07 PM Nightingale, Noel via BlindLaw <
blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Syed,
>
> I am sorry to be tardy in responding to your law firm accommodations
> question.  One option that has not been discussed and may be considered to
> be controversial these days is what I did to ensure that my summer
> associate position went smoothly and that I was able to demonstrate that I
> could do the job, rather than spending the three months dealing with
> accessibility issues.
>
> When I was hired by a big law firm for the summer, I hired my own reader.
> I was making more money in the summer associate position than I had ever
> earned before and, consequently,  I had the luxury of being able to afford
> to pay a part-time reader for the summer.  That way, I didn't have to
> negotiate that issue in advance and I could focus on doing a job I had
> never done before.  It worked out well, and when the law firm offered me a
> permanent associate position, I then told them that I would not be paying
> for a reader while employed with the firm.  I had already demonstrated the
> utility of my reader accommodation and my need for it and also, of course,
> demonstrated my ability to do the job.  I had also demonstrated my
> commitment to the law firm by paying for my own accommodation for the
> summer.  I hired a student and essentially paid her the minimum wage and it
> worked out for both of us during the summer and allowed me to focus on
> learning the substantive area in which I would be practicing, environmental
> law, and the other aspects of the practice I had to learn quickly, like
> about writing briefs, working with legal secretaries and court procedures.
> Also, at the time, there were a lot of social activities for summer
> associates that were important to participate in as I was being assessed
> for a permanent position, like lunches and weekend and evening activities,
> so I didn't have that extra time to devote to dealing with accessibility
> issues.
>
> Before everyone starts yelling in all caps, I know that it is not the
> blind person's responsibility to pay for an accommodation, but I wanted to
> throw that option into the mix in case it made sense to you or anyone
> else.  I have had a long career at this point and haven't paid for any
> accommodations since, so that three month investment worked out for me.
>
> Noel
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Syed Rizvi via
> BlindLaw
> Sent: Wednesday, January 5, 2022 12:01 PM
> To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Syed Rizvi <syedrizvinfb at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [blindLaw] Law Firm Accommodations
>
>
> Thank you both so much for your guidance.
>
>
>
> Laura, yes, big law. I hope you don’t mind if I share this list with the
> recruiting team. These specifics are gold.
>
>
>
> Sanho, I understand. I do advocate for myself. I just want to ensure I
> spend the summer proving myself to the firm, rather than figuring out how
> to do basic tasks. The firm has reached out to ask how to best accommodate
> me so that I can hit the ground running, come summer.
>
>
>
> Thank you!
>
> Syed
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> Syed Mahmud Rizvi
>
>
>
> SyedRizviNFB at gmail.com
>
> (413)250-3523
>
>
>
> Harvard Law School | JD Candidate' 2024
>
> Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow
>
> Jacobus Tenbroek Fellow
>
> SEO Law Fellow
>
> Lighthouse Guild Scholar
>
> Charles and Melva T. Owen Scholar
>
> Rudolph Dillman Scholar
>
>
>
> The University of Texas at Austin | BA in Government' 2020
>
> Dean's Distinguished Graduate
>
> High Honors
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 5, 2022 at 2:30 PM Laura Wolk via BlindLaw <
> blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Oh yes, a go-to contact in IT is a must.  But K1000 will not be fast
> > enough to handle batch conversions.
> >
> > On 1/5/22, Sanho Steele-Louchart via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
> > > Syed,
> > >
> > > When I was hired on, I was lucky enough to already have a copy of
> > > K1000 (the OCR software) and JAWS/NVDA with Eloquence. All I actually
> > > needed to ask for was someone to read me the handwritten parts of
> > > records. Everything else has taken care of itself.
> > >
> > > If possible, I'd approach this with a trusted supervisor or hiring
> > > manager. Candidly, it seems to me that we'll ultimately need to be
> > > able to advocate for these things without the assistance of an outside
> > > firm. My supervisor made it pretty clear that if I wanted to advocate
> > > for my clients, I should be prepared to advocate for myself first.
> > >
> > > if I didn't have a trusted supervisor or hiring manager, I'd be up
> > > front about what I needed. "I'll need X, Y, and Z. I also need a
> > > contact person in the event something's inaccessible and I need to
> > > figure it out on the spot. Will that be a problem?"
> > >
> > > Warmth and good luck,
> > > Sanho
> > >
> > > On 1/5/22, Syed Rizvi via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> > >> Hi All,
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Do you have any tips regarding discussions with firms pertaining to
> > what I
> > >> will need from them to be a successful blind summer associate? I know
> I
> > >> need JAWS etc., but due to my lack of work experience, I don’t know
> what
> > >> set of procedures I should have in place. For example, with school, I
> > know
> > >> I need all my books in an electronic format and so on, but I don’t
> have
> > >> work accommodations figured out in the same way due to my lack of
> > >> experience. Are there consulting firms that educate employers on how
> to
> > >> best accommodate blind employees or that can test firm tools prior to
> > the
> > >> summer?
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Thank you so much for any guidance in this matter!
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Gratefully,
> > >>
> > >> Syed
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Syed Mahmud Rizvi
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> SyedRizviNFB at gmail.com
> > >>
> > >> (413)250-3523
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Harvard Law School | JD Candidate' 2024
> > >>
> > >> Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow
> > >>
> > >> Jacobus Tenbroek Fellow
> > >>
> > >> SEO Law Fellow
> > >>
> > >> Lighthouse Guild Scholar
> > >>
> > >> Charles and Melva T. Owen Scholar
> > >>
> > >> Rudolph Dillman Scholar
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> The University of Texas at Austin | BA in Government' 2020
> > >>
> > >> Dean's Distinguished Graduate
> > >>
> > >> High Honors
> > >> _______________________________________________
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> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Warmth,
> > > Sanho
> > > He, Him, His
> > >
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> >
> > _______________________________________________
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