Tools and Strategies for Lawyers With Vision Impairments
Toronto lawyer Ernst Ashurov was born with limited vision, and an eye injury in childhood left him almost completely blind; yet he runs a criminal and general litigation practice. In the first few years of his career, he was able to read print using extreme magnification glasses; but by 2006 he could no longer read. These days, he relies on two key software products to work with documents and to conduct internet research. Since software has its limitations, he has also developed a personalized set of strategies for dealing with the specific demands of court attendance, and for working with images and video.
JAWS® screen reader
JAWS, an acronym for Job Access With Speech, is a screen reading program from Freedom Scientific®. When installed on a computer (there are versions for both PC and Mac®), it allows the user to have text and numerical content read aloud to him or her. For users who prefer Braille to audio, or who also have a hearing impairment, JAWS can also provide output to the user in the form of Braille (via a special Braille reader).
More than just a reader, says Ashurov, “JAWS superimposes itself over the operating system, and lets the user navigate between Microsoft® Office programs – even if the user can’t use a mouse.”
How does it work? Users learn keyboard “shortcuts” (similar to the more limited set used by sighted keyboard users; for example, control-c for “copy,” control-p for “paste”). Says Ashurov: “It’s very much like the way computers used to work under the DOS operating system” that predated mouse powered
Windows® and Mac OS. Learning the long list of shortcuts was not difficult, says Ashurov, who navigates programs about as quickly as a sighted user. “You do have to be good at remembering file names,” he concedes, as well as being organized when you develop your filing system.
JAWS also allows users to navigate the Internet, and is designed to read content in the order of priority that a sighted researcher would choose to read it, and to distinguish between a page’s core content and secondary areas, like banner advertisements.
When typing on a computer that is running JAWS, the program reads the user’s work back to him or her, which allows for correction of any mistakes.
Kurzweil 1000™ scan-to-audio software
When he needs to read hardcopy documents, Ashurov relies on Kurzweil 1000, a software product from Kurzweil Educational Systems®. Kurzweil allows Ashurov to scan hardcopy documents into a special format for audio reading (documents can also be converted to Braille). The program can also open PDF documents – traditionally challenging for text-to-audio software – and convert them into text for audio.
Portable technology for the courtroom
In the past, explains Ashurov, for courtroom appearances he needed to rely on a special portable recorder into which he could download selected audio files from his office computer. “Now that computers are so much lighter and smaller, there’s no need for that.” He can now listen to audio directly from his computer (after explaining to the judge why he’s wearing headphones!).
When questioning witnesses about prior statements, instead of showing the witness entries from police notes, he plays excerpts from an audio recording of the notes ahead of time.
Working with images
In some trials, of course, a certain portion of the evidence is visual: objects, photographs, and video may form part of the evidentiary record. While Ashurov has heard of a special digital camera that can convert a photo into a voice description, for the moment he relies on the help of his wife, who has worked as his assistant for his entire legal career. In preparation for trial, she records descriptions of physical evidence and photographs. “When there’s a video involved, we sit together and she describes it to me frame by frame. We record the descriptions, and I listen to the recording several times before trial.”
The takeaway? A disability need not prevent you from practising law. Take the time to research and test the technologies available, figure out how they can support the way you like to work, and develop a system of strategies – which will likely include the help of a trusted assistant − that suits your needs. When you encounter a new challenge, be resourceful and creative in overcoming it, and share your solutions with colleagues who have similar needs.
This article appeared in the September 2014 issue of LAWPRO Magazine. All past LAWPRO Magazine articles can be found at www.lawpro.ca/magazinearchives
While it is true that “a disability need not prevent you from practising law”, there are still major barriers to entering the field of law if you have a visual impairment. Law has a very long way to go as a profession. Out of 6 visually impaired law students around my graduating year, 2 managed to obtain articles, and 1 got a job after articles. 4 still can’t get articles. There are numerous, needless barriers to the profession beginning with the LSAT, exam methods, access to textbooks, networking events, the physical set-up of courthouses and classrooms, and the attitudinal prejudices that prevent people with disabilities from getting work.
People with disabilities tend to be resilient, resourceful and creative because they have to be. But sometimes this isn’t enough, particularly in a profession that is about 10 years behind in technology and attitudes.
I have been visually impaired since birth but I have generally been able to work with normal text as my impairment is more related to distance vision. I fully understand the barriers that face people with disabilities when seeking employment. After law school I sought jobs with all of the Big 8 accounting firms as I am a CPA JD. It came down to two and I made it to the final interview with both in their Charlotte offices. The first one I informed of my disability and did not get the job. The next day at the second one I didn’t say a word about it and I got the job. when I started work it didn’t take long for everyone to realize that my vision was limited. After two years there I left to start my legal career and in my exit interview the partner in charge told my that I had taught him a valuable lesson. He said that I probably would not have been hired if they knew of my vision but that it would have been a mistake if they had not hired me. The Big 8 at that time was very much a workplace where you had to “fill the mould” or you couldn’t survive. I guess I broke the mould.