Committee Reports Diversity and Inclusion Committee: Diversity, inclusion, and the journeys of a disabled attorney

I attended the opening reception for the MSBA Leadership Academy, whereall, including me, applauded one of the first classes in the academy’s longhistory to be composed of a majority of women Fellows. As the sole lawyerand mentor with a guide dog at the reception, I listened to those wonderfulspeeches of newly minted Fellows and reflected upon disability inclusion.

Disability would be more integrated into society if it were recognized as amajor factor of the social fabric alongside all the other attributes andcharacteristics that make up a diverse society.

Disability is unique in that anyone may eventually experience a social recognition or a legal identification as having adisability. In particular, our society has often doubly disabled women with disabilities, both as women and then aspersons with disabilities, through antiquated attitudes, laws, and policies.

I have enjoyed a mixture of that which all lawyers with disabilities experience at some point: rich, meaningfuladventures and influence on public policy and also what seems like ingrained, intractable bias. Any lawyer withdisabilities partnered with a guide dog could be “on top of the world” one night speaking to hundreds, shapingpolicy. The next day, we enter a place of public accommodation only to experience an entirely separate set of encounters.

One learns to spot these presumptions or even explicit bias when leading an active, trailblazing life. In my long-termexperience, every occasion I enter a meeting or a board room and I am the “first blind person” a fellow professionalknows or where an unstated thought exists as to why I am at said place with my dog shows that bias remains. Allsectors of society, including the legal profession and the nonprofit sector led by lawyers, must support, and deependisability inclusion, including especially by women with disabilities.

As one positive step, I applaud the Biden administration for the 2021 Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. This executive order expanded diversity work to include “A” for accessibility. I hope that thisexpands the diversity community to recognize disability as a dimension of diversity.

Power comes from being in the room. At a dinner with a client I orchestrated, one of my dining companions arguedthe need for “sponsorship,” placing people with diverse disabilities on boards, committees, and staff. This cannot bea “check-the-box” exercise but a process in which people with disabilities and other intersectional identities have achance to thrive without bias.

What a difference it would be for disability inclusion if a majority of members of a board room or a pipeline programwere those with disabilities?

Websites, mobile applications, and social media must be considered as a place of public accommodation. Theevolving range of social dialogue and informationsharing tools must also be accessible and usable by people withdisabilities.

While this regrettably yet occurs, as a general rule society no longer tolerates denying access to other historically marginalized groups, such as Blacks, to a coffeehouse or to a restaurant. Still, even if the U.S Department of Justice soon issues a final rule on digital accessibility, some will dismiss those provisions as burdensome regulations and annoying civil rights requirements for blind people. Some business actors will inevitably argue for the need for Trump-era “people-over-paperwork” notions.

I physically live on edges and ledges, requiring grace and help from outside sources. I have been blessed and honored to collaborate with guide dogs for 20 years. Even the best of guide dogs navigates closely to a curb. This requires a compassion and a resiliency; two beings must collaborate for success both on the physical edges and ledges of life as well as the figurative ones that society would impose.

In conclusion, I must be a partner with my guide dog, Bowie, and he my partner. Likewise, all of us must be, thoughtful allies of other marginalized groups if we are to embody and to model Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility.

Congratulations to the 2022-23 class of Fellows, especially to any who may have a disability.

– Gary C. Norman, Esq. Originally published in the Maryland Daily Record, October 7, 2022