Black Woman Provides Hope for Visually Impaired as UK’s First Blind Barrister
Jessikah Inaba made history after becoming the first blind, Black, woman barrister in the United Kingdom.
Jess, from Camden, has now joined the Bar 5 years since starting her studies in 2017. She said:
🗣 ‘It’s been crazy, I still can’t really believe I’ve done it.’ pic.twitter.com/FOuKwR4dM5
— Metro (@MetroUK) October 30, 2022
According to The Daily Mail, the 23-year-old studied in London for five years, where she attended the University of Law – London Bloomsbury. She began an accelerated degree in September 2017, and started her master’s two years later, with a professional training course close at hand.
“It’s been crazy – I still can’t really believe I’ve done it. One day I’ll wake up and realize how amazing this is,” Inaba said.
“It was hard and I often thought of giving up, but my supportive family gave me courage and strength,” she continued.
She reportedly completed her courses using Braille, a tactile writing system used by the visually impaired. Inaba claimed her university took seven months to get one of her key study texts and five months for the other. However, friends and tutors helped whenever she needed further information on topics.
“I know I can do this job really well, and the more people like me who go through training the easier it will become,” she expressed, adding, “There’s a triple glazed glass ceiling.”
LAD Bible reported that none of the legal organizations that were contacted, including the four Inns of Court, the Bar Council, and the Bar Standards Board, could find an instance where another blind, Black, woman excelled as far as Inaba.
“I’m not the most common gender or colour, and I have a disability, but by pushing through I’m easing the burden on the next person like me [sic],” Inaba explained.
In 2019, Inaba was reportedly rushed to the hospital after fainting multiple times. According to the outlet, the fainting was a result of her only getting three hours of sleep every night for two years.
“I was hospitalized because I kept fainting in October 2019 because I’d been functioning on about three hours [of] sleep a night for two years,” Inaba said.
“I would sometimes get 45 minutes a day to eat, but often I ate while at my computer,” she added.
She explained that there were other people who used text-to-speech at the university. However, her process for remembering information included reading the text for herself, so she made her own Braille materials from lecture notes and friends who read materials to her.
Inaba said she feels good knowing that she provides hope for others who are in similar situations.
Reportedly, Inaba plans to apply for a pupillage, training for newly qualified barristers to get their first placement in chambers.
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