I was the first deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School: ‘We need action not pity’

One mid-morning a few weeks ago, I got an opportunity to interview the first deafblind Harvard Law School graduate Haben Girma — a lawyer and an advocate for accessibility.

The 33-year-old was on her maiden-trip to Kenya to speak on accessibility for ICT products and services for persons with disabilities in Africa at the Inclusive Africa Conference held late last month in Nairobi. 

At the event, the first National ICT Accessibility Standard for Products and Services in Africa was launched making Kenya the first country in Africa to develop a digital accessibility standard for persons with disabilities. The standards will provide a framework for ensuring public ICT products and services are sensitive to the disabled.

As we took to our seats, Mylo, her German shepherd guide dog snuggled against her feet (acting as her eyes) would periodically wake up from his siesta to “check up” on her.

This was no typical interview. For the conversation to happen, there was a mesh of humans and technology.

Across my seat, Gordon Brynes, her interpreter typed out the questions on a Bluetooth keyboard that is connected to her braille display. There are dots at the bottom of her keyboard that pulses words into her fingers enabling her to read. Then she’d respond by voice. Through screen-reader technology, Girma can read texts, emails, and digital web content.

To get here, she has had to surmount many challenges and live in defiance of the low expectations that people have for persons with disabilities. As a result of living a full life, Girma skis, surfs, ballroom dances, performs improv comedy and travels extensively. She has received many awards including the 2016 Forbes top 30 under 30. In 2019, she released a book, “Haben: The deafblind woman who conquered Harvard Law.”

This is her story.

In her own words

“I am 33 years old and I was born deafblind in California, USA. I have three other siblings, one of whom is also deafblind. My parents are immigrants from Eritrea and Ethiopia.

When I introduce myself, I refrain from using deaf and blind as separate words. This is because, with my condition, my experiences are distinct from those of an individual who is deaf or another who is blind. When I was a child, I had residual vision and hearing but that has diminished over time and after years of speech training, I can speak clearly, although in a high register.

Barriers

I grew up under the wings of people including my teachers who cheered me on. My mother, in particular, insisted that I had to take part in all house chores. Yet, even though I was determined to lead a normal life, there were whispers here and there. There were those who would say, “She’s deaf and blind. There’s nothing she’ll be able to do.”

These messages are what I call ableism. The idea is that you only have value when you are able-bodied.  And I saw a lot of that especially when I visited Eritrea and Ethiopia as schools and other places laid out the innumerable challenges faced by persons with disabilities.

In US, I was fortunate to attend public schools where assistive software, typewriters, braille books, and special resource rooms were available.  You would imagine that with all these being accessible, it was all smooth. Unfortunately, it was not.

In college, for instance, I could not read the menu at the cafeteria because there was no braille version available. I remember requesting that they email me menu choices and them refusing under the excuse that they were very busy.  It was very frustrating and I tolerated it for some months encouraging myself that the most important thing was that I was being fed.

However, after researching my rights, I discovered that I had the right to access information, including the menu. I threatened them with litigation and henceforth, I started receiving options by email. The next time another deaf blind student joined the institution, they found an accessible menu.

Her work in advocacy

It was against this backdrop that I pursued a career in law. In 2013, I became the first deaf blind graduate from Harvard Law School. It is a huge honour but also incredibly frustrating to imagine that it took that long. For a long time, they refused to admit people like me. Over the years, there has been systemic changes that have seen the institution admit women, people of colour and persons with disabilities.

Her Achievements

A year after my graduation, I represented two organisations in suing Scribd, an online publishing platform and book subscription service, for discrimination because they were not making texts accessible to blind readers and writers. I love reading and it is a shared passion with many other blind people. If we cannot access information, how can we fight for our rights? The court ruled in our favour and a year later, I was invited to the White House and met the then-President, Barack Obama with whom I discussed on matters about disability inclusion and possibilities for innovation.

This is my fundamental goal in life —to advocate for inclusion in all spheres of life. During my visit to Kenya, for instance, there are some places and buildings that were difficult to access because they don’t allow dogs. In some places, I explained why Mylo had to walk with me. He has been with me since 2018 and is well trained to lead people like me. He is very attentive and adaptable.

Whenever I share my story, I get many messages telling me someone somewhere is inspired by my story. A word I don’t like because in most cases, it borders pity. I say, if anyone is inspired, let them take action to make a more inclusive society. Sometimes, it can be a small change like affirming a relative or a friend with some form of disability and removing barriers that prevent them from accessing information or job opportunities.

In this digital era, I would like to see web content developers make content accessible by creating captions for all videos and descriptions for all images.”

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