[blindLaw] Inaccessibility of Legal Careers

[James Garret Mooney]

I would love to talk to you off-line, email me so we can set something up.

> On Nov 1, 2023, at 1:20 PM, Julie A. Orozco via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I am really struggling and wonder if some of you can provide
> perspective. First, how much of your legal work, particularly for
> those of you with clients, is actually accessible to you as a blind
> person? I ask this because I would guess that the work in my legal
> clinic is 60 or 70 percent inaccessible, and there seems to be very
> little I can do about it by the end of the semester.
> 
> I am currently taking a civil advocacy clinic through my law school.
> Each student works with a partner and interviews, files motions for,
> and represents clients in court hearings. Ever since I started law
> school, I've been blown away at the inaccessible nature of the legal
> profession, especially considering my last career literally required
> me to get Braille materials because music cannot be rendered in a Word
> document. But this clinic is another level of inaccessibility I never
> imagined.
> 
> We had to do several mailings last week. The instructions were
> hand-written, and the entire process was inaccessible, so my partner
> had to do it while I stood there with nothing to do to help. We
> routinely have to work with scanned images that can't be converted
> into text easily (if at all) because they contain hand writing. I
> asked for a reader when I realized this would be a problem, but the
> reader they gave me works for our disability support office and is
> only available in the mornings when I am in class. He signed a
> confidentiality agreement, which was a requirement for my clinic, but
> he still shares what he's working on with his supervisor, who cannot
> be granted access to client information. I'm attempting to work out
> these issues, but while I try, the work continues.
> 
> When my professor, partner, and I edit motions and other writings,
> it's a nightmare. First, I had to figure out Sharepoint, which lags
> and doesn't seem to work well with Jaws. Another blind attorney gave
> me some tips that really helped, but in the end, none of that mattered
> because when the three of us started editing together, I was
> completely lost. I was trying to listen to track changes, comments,
> footnotes, and the text of the motion with Jaws while my professor and
> partner were looking at printed pages and just marking off what they
> wanted to change. I couldn't keep up. My professor apologized, but she
> kept using the paper copies and changing things I couldn't see on my
> document.
> 
> There are also lots of little things, like taking pictures, scanning
> documents and checking them when documenting information, and putting
> paper packets and visual aids together. Finally, when filing with the
> DC Superior court, their system was not completely keyboard
> accessible, so I couldn't even take the lead in filing our motion. I'm
> frankly very overwhelmed. Although I know I have a lot to learn and I
> accept that we live in a visual world, this level of inaccessibility
> is making me question getting into the legal field at all. I
> understand that sometimes I can do more to fight for accessibility,
> but what am I supposed to do when I have three other classes, am
> applying to take the Bar, and am also trying to apply for fellowships
> and jobs? I cannot take on all these battles, and for the first time,
> I don't even know which ones, if any, matter. My partner and professor
> are tolerant of all these issues, but it feels awful that I have to
> rely on my partner to do so much. My professor has also made it clear
> that I have to improve over the course of the semester and put more
> work into my clinic assignments.
> 
> I've tried to brain storm solutions. I've tried talking with my
> partner about letting me figure out some of the inaccessible work.
> Sometimes she gets something done while I'm still trying to figure out
> how to make it accessible. Whenever I bring up these issues with my
> professor, she acts like I should just expect things to be
> inaccessible. "It's a visual world." And while that's true, she and
> the university still have a legal obligation to make things accessible
> when possible.
> 
> I'm just not sure what to do, what to ask for, and how to proceed. I'm
> tired, so tired, and I'm graduating at the end of the semester, so
> part of me just wants to let all this go. But when I think about a
> future career being like this, I just lose all desire to practice law
> anymore.
> 
> Does anyone have any thoughts? Please be kind if you think I should
> just suck it up and keep fighting. I know this but would also love
> some support.
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Julie
> 
> -- 
> Julie A. Orozco
> MM Vocal Performance, 2015; American University Washington College of
> Law, JD Candidate 2023
> 
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