Ep 50: Disabled Lawyers
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Today’s episode is about disabled lawyers with Hamza Jaka and Britney Wilson. Hamza is a recent graduate from UC Berkeley’s School of Law. Hamza shares with his experiences requesting accommodations for his LSATs, the gatekeeping nature of the legal profession that excludes students with disabilities, and the overall toll of law school, ableism, and capitalism on disabled law students. Britney Wilson is a proud graduate of Howard University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Britney talks about why she wanted to become a lawyer, her experiences during law school, and her commitment to civil and disability rights.
Transcript
Related Links
Disability Rights Bar Association
National Association of Attorneys With Disabilities
National Center for Law and Economic Justice
2019 tenBroek Disability Law Symposium: Interview with Victoria Rodríguez-Roldán. (April 8, 2019). Disability Visibility Project
deVise, Daniel. (May 12, 2012). Howard graduate caps a four-year fight for access. Washington Post.
Escobar, Natalie. (March 25, 2019). The Time Crunch on Standardized Tests Is Unnecessary. The Atlantic.
Gaffney, Nicholas. (July 16, 2018). In Conversation with Attorneys with Disabilities. Law Practice Today.
Moss, Haley. (April 9, 2019). I’m Florida’s First Openly Autistic Attorney. Here’s What That Means. Huffington Post.
Sloame, Joanna. (January 31, 2018). Meet the Deaf-Blind Lawyer Fighting For People With Disabilities. PopSugar.com
Ward, Stephanie Francis. (February 6, 2019). With $1M donation, this law school plans to build pipeline of lawyers who have disabilities. ABA Journal.
Ward, Stephanie Francis. (November 9, 2018). Following contempt finding in accommodation lawsuit, LSAC ordered to pay attorney fees. ABA Journal.
Wilson, Britney. (September 2017). On NYC’s Paratransit, Fighting for Safety, Respect, and Human Dignity. Longreads.
Wilson, Britney. (February 23, 2017). Disability and Policing. The Regulatory Review.
Wilson, Britney. (July 10, 2014). Pathways to the Profession: Britney Wilson L’15. University of Pennsylvania Law School.
About
Hamza Jaka is a double bear Berkeley grad, having gone to Berkeley for undergrad, and for law school (Class of 2018). He recently passed the Illinois Bar and plans to begin work in Illinois shortly. Hamza is passionate about inclusion and disability justice, and the arts. He hopes to combine all three as part of his legal career. Outside of the law, Hamza is an active disability rights advocate, gamer, pop culture consumer, writer, and board game player.
Twitter: @HamzaAJaka
Britney Wilson is an attorney at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ). Her work focuses on the intersection of poverty, civil rights, and racial justice. Before NCLEJ, Britney worked on a range of racial justice issues, from discriminatory policing, including Floyd v. City of New York, the landmark case that successfully challenged the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices, to issues of immigration, voting rights, fair housing, and the school-to-prison pipeline at the Center for Constitutional Rights and the ACLU.
Especially committed to advocacy on behalf of people of color and people with disabilities, Britney has written and spoken extensively about the intersection of these issues, including for The Nation Magazine, Longreads, and This American Life. She is a proud graduate of Howard University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Twitter: @labelleverite
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Credits
Sarika D. Mehta, Audio Producer
Alice Wong, Writer, Producer, Interviewer
Cheryl Green, Text Transcript
Lateef McLeod, Introduction
Mike Mort, Artwork
Theme Music (used with permission of artist)
Song: “Dance Off”
Artist: Wheelchair Sports Camp
Music
“Creo que tengo un poco de miedo” by L.D.I. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License)
“Alphabet Soup” by Podington Bear is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License)
“Slow Casino” by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License)
“Frisco Nights” by Loco Lobo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License)
“Maximum Respect for You (ID 589)” by Lobo Loco is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License)
“La verdadera impaciencia (B-side)” by L.D.I. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License)
Sounds
“VOCODER countdown” by Jack_Master. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.
“8 Bit Beeping Computer Sounds” by sheepfilms. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.
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