10/29/2021
Has COVID-19 made the workplace more accessible for lawyers with disabilities?
BY AMANDA ROBERT
OCTOBER 26, 2021, 10:45 AM CD
Since March 2020, most law firms and legal organizations have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic by allowing their employees to work remotely and transition to more flexible hours. For some lawyers with disabilities, teleworking has brought significant benefits, including increased access to their clients and colleagues and to more job opportunities.
Britney Wilson, an associate professor and the director of the Civil Rights and Disability Justice Clinic at New York Law School, hopes legal employers keep this in mind as they develop return-to-office policies. Recent studies have shown many employees enjoy their new arrangements and either don’t want to return to the office or would prefer a hybrid schedule.
Britney Wilson
“We’re hearing a lot about the ‘return to normal,’ and I think the entire disability community has critiqued that notion because normal has never been accessible,” says Wilson, who has cerebral palsy. “I don’t want to see the lessons we’ve learned from this pandemic just be ignored. I hope that we can incorporate them into our return to normal.”
She uses crutches and an electronic scooter and relies on a paratransit service to get to work. Prior to the pandemic, she crossed New York City twice a day but spent a lot of time waiting for rides that were either late or never showed up.
Wilson saved hours by working from home and continues to do so three days a week. She commutes to the law school when her class meets, but otherwise she researches and writes briefs for her federal class action cases on her own computer.
“We realized that we never needed to be in an office, sitting next to one another, to do that,” Wilson says. “You’re at your computer, whether it’s at home or in the office. The technology is there, and it has always been there.”
Sean Pevsner
Sean Pevsner has benefited from the use of technology his entire life. The partner at Whitburn & Pevsner in Arlington, Texas, has severe cerebral palsy and operates a motorized wheelchair through head movements. He also uses an interpreter or a specialized computer to do his work because of quadriplegia.
During the pandemic, he has attended all of his court hearings, mediations and client meetings via Zoom. He says it has made his job easier and hopes legal employers and courts continue to allow parties to communicate via teleconference.
“The Zoom technology may transform the legal field,” says Pevsner, who is a member of the ABA Commission on Disability Rights. “Attorneys with physical disabilities will probably benefit from this in that we would not need travel to courthouses for hearings or oral arguments.”
Angélica Guevara, an assistant professor of business law and ethics at Indiana University, describes herself as a “very proud neurodivergent Latina.” She works with an academic coach who reads emails and articles to her because she can’t fully comprehend and retain written information. She also needs to spend one day without stimuli each week.
She previously worked with the U.S. Department of Labor and connected with long-distance colleagues through Zoom. She can’t spend too much time on the platform because it gives her headaches, but says she appreciates when colleagues understand her need to turn off the camera.
