[blindLaw] Gov. Lawyering while visually impaired

[Caleb E. Smith]

Happy to talk more if it would be helpful. I have done a few years with the
government although I was at a lower level than you will be up. It was
certainly not trying to do travel in renting cars and things.



They will ultimately get you whatever technology you need. But it will take
a hot minute. At least if they’re still using the system where you have to
go and meet with people at the Pentagon so they can get your recommendation
and then get the security checked on the program that your agency has
probably not seen before and then buy it.

One thing I found frustrating and I hope that they improve is that it feels
sometimes like it’s always nothing. Like you could request a full-time
reader which seems like a horrible waste of money for most of us. But there
are some tasks that are just very difficult to do and you feel bad asking
another employee or someone else’s secretary to help you read something or
fill out a form. But sometimes you have to do that.  Sometimes you just
need a little of this help. Not enough to need an entire full-time
employee. I heard the department of transportation basically had a pool of
employees to help with the needs of disabled employees so you could just
use people for a little bit. Sounds like a good system. I hope that they do
that.

On Wed, Mar 29, 2023 at 10:14 AM Michael Collins via BlindLaw <
blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I recently accepted a civil litigator position with the federal
> government. I'm visually impaired but still have usable vision. Would
> anyone with experience litigating for the government be willing to talk
> about the accommodations they've used or found available?
>
> I never really explored accommodations while clerking and my work
> experience has been with non-profits and small firms that had more ad hoc
> accommodations policies—i.e., if I encounter a problem and think of a
> solution, I ask a partner if that solution is feasible with the firm's
> resources. I gather the government has more available resources (though not
> at the level of a big firm), but is more formulaic because they have plenty
> of disabled employees rather than just me. I want to know what I can
> reasonably expect in terms of technology/services. The position requires a
> lot of travel, so I'm particularly curious about what the government does
> when a lawyer simply cannot rent a car at the airport to travel to the
> final destination.
>
> If anyone who's traveled this road before would be willing to chat about
> the accommodations they used and the roadblocks they encountered, I would
> be very appreciative.
>
> Thank you,
>
> - Michael
> Sent from my mobile device
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