COURTROOM ACCESSIBILITY FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED ATTORNEYS
Author: Abigail Woolverton, Associate Editor
Introduction
People who “require visual aids…face communication barriers that prevent them from fully participating in the judicial process.”[i] For “lawyers with disabilities, challenges can hinder their ability to fully participate and thrive in the field.”[ii] In fact, people with disabilities and blindness experience significantly higher rates of unemployment than able-bodied people, 12.5% compared to 5.9%.”[iii] Further, in a study evaluating “transportation-related stress” among people with visual impairments, it was found that people with visual impairments experience “higher stress…[when] navigating…and walking in unfamiliar places.”[iv] Psychological stress occurs when “people perceive environmental demands as beyond their resources and thus threatening or harmful.”[v] To ease these anxieties, it is important for trial attorneys to know the accommodations available to them in courtrooms, and equally as important for all courtrooms to be consistent in their accommodations.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Title II of The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), states: “No qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.”[vi] Further, the Act provides two particularly relevant definitions for better understanding the Act and its protections. First, the Act defines “public entity” as “any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or States or local government.”[vii] Importantly, courthouses are an example of a state and local government location under this definition.[viii] Secondly, the ADA defines a “qualified individual with a disability” as “an individual with a disability who, with or without reasonable modifications to rules, policies, or practices, the removal of architectural, communication, or transportation barriers, or the provision of auxiliary aids and services, meets the essential eligibility requirements for the receipt of services or the participation in programs or activities provided by a public entity.”[ix]
How Courtrooms Can Ensure ADA Compliance
Compliance with the ADA is a “legal requirement and a moral obligation to create equitable access to justice.”[x] Currently, for courtrooms to comply with the ADA, they must provide certain “auxiliary aids and services” for those with visual impairments.[xi] The auxiliary aids and services include “providing a qualified reader, which means someone who is able to read effectively, accurately, and impartially, using any necessary specialized vocabulary; information in large print, Braille, or electronically for use with a computer screen-reading program; or an audio recording of printed information.”[xii] In addition, aids and services include a wide variety of technologies such as “screen reader software, magnification software, and optical readers; video description and secondary auditory programming (SAP) devices that pick up video-described audio feeds for television programs; [and] accessibility features in electronic documents.”[xiii] While all of these available accommodations are great, is it enough?
Despite the available accommodations, a 2021 study by the National Center for Access to Justice found that forty-four states received a disability accessibility score of less than fifty, on a scale from zero to one hundred.[xiv] Therefore, courthouses must offer more options for visually impaired people, particularly attorneys. Again, persons with visual impairments experience “higher stress…[when] navigating…and walking in unfamiliar places.”[xv] The available accommodations mentioned above fail to address this issue of anxiety attorneys with visual impairments may face when walking into and having to navigate a new or unfamiliar courthouse. Subsequently, an attorney having to then deal with and manage those anxieties because of the lack of available accommodations, then affects the attorney’s ability to effectively and completely represent his or her clients.[xvi] This ultimately harming the client’s case and the attorney’s professional reputation. To rectify this, courthouses should be nationally consistent and open to the implementation of other accommodations for visually impaired people.
There are several ways courts could implement various accommodations for those who are visually impaired. First, courthouses should permit courtroom visits prior to an attorneys scheduled court appearance, as this can help familiarize the attorney with the courthouse and their specific courtroom.[xvii] A second option is for courts to normalize allowing visually impaired attorneys to use service animals inside of the courtroom to help guide their owners to where they need to be.[xviii] A service animal, which is covered under the ADA, is an “animal which is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for persons with disabilities.”[xix] Although service animals are allowed in courtrooms as protected by the ADA, this is very rarely seen, despite it being a very promising solution.[xx] These accommodations can help ensure the attorney can focus on their case without the additional stress and worry of whether they will be able to navigate their way around the courthouse. As a result, the attorney will then be able to better provide for their client. While these are only two accommodations that can help attorneys, they help pave the way for the implementation of more accommodations in the future.
Conclusion
For people with disabilities, specifically those with visual impairments, it is important to know the accommodations available to them through the ADA in any given environment. This applies specifically to trial attorneys who do a large majority of their work inside courtrooms. Being aware of the available courthouse accommodations can turn an often anxiety-inducing experience into one that is as smooth as it can be.[xxi] Further, it is valuable for courthouses to know the areas where they could improve in terms of offering accommodations and accessibility services to those with visual impairments.
[i]Accessibility in the Courts: 32 Years on From the Americans with Disabilities Act, For The Record (July 30, 2022) https://fortherecord.com/accessibility-in-the-courts/.
[ii] Jeffrey M Allen and Ashley Hallene, Tech Tools to Aid Lawyers with Disabilities, American Bar Association (Aug 8, 2023) https://www.americanbar.org/groups/gpsolo/resources/magazine/2023-july-august/tech-tools-aid-lawyers-disabilities/?login.
[iii] Annie Mann, When Justice is Blind: Accommodations for Judges with Visual Impairments and Blindness, 26 Pub. Interest L. Rptr. 188, 5 (2022) citing Gregory P. Care, Accessible Technology Need Not be a Fight, and the Legal Community has a Role in Securing the Peace, 48 MD. B.J. 14 (2015).
[iv] Adele Crudden, et al., Stress Associated with Transportation: A Survey of Persons with Visual Impairments, 111 J. Vis. Impairment & Blindness 219, 2 (2017).
[v]Id. at 3 citing Craig A. Smith & Leslie D. Kirby, The Role of Appraisal and Emotion in Coping and Adaptation, in Handbook of Stress Science: Biology, Psychology, and Health,195-208 (New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2011).
[vi] Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12132.
[vii] Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12131(1)(B).
[viii]See The ADA and Title II Public Entities, Northeast ADA Centerhttps://www.northeastada.org/resource/the-ada-and-title-ii-public-entities.
[ix] Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12131(2).
[x]Is Your Court AV System ADA Compliant? Here’s How to Check, CTI https://www.cti.com/is-your-court-av-system-ada-compliant/.
[xi] U.S. Dep’t of Justice, ADA Requirements: Effective Communications (2014), https://www.ada.gov/resources/effective-communication/.
[xii]Id.
[xiii]Id.
[xiv]Accessibility in the Courts: 32 Years on From the Americans with Disabilities Act, supra note i citing Qudsiya Naqui, National Database of Cour Orders Details Pandemic-Related Changes to Operations, Pew Charitable Trusts (Mar. 25, 2022).
[xv] Crudden, supra note iv.
[xvi]See Md. Rule 1-332 (2025).
[xvii]See id.
[xviii]See id.
[xix]See id.
[xx]See Can You bring a Service Dog to Court?, Enjurishttps://www.enjuris.com/blog/questions/service-dogs-in-court/.
[xxi]See Crudden, supra note iv.