Canadian Lawyer

Cross EXaMinEd Marie-Douce Fugère uses special software to help her read. manner even before she had ordered salmon tartar. "I know you're only interested in doing a profile on me because I'm blind," she said. "But I'm happy to oblige because I find it important to try and raise awareness that a handicapped person who wants to work can be a good and loyal employee." Fugère suffers from pigmentary retinopathy, a rare hereditary ocular disease that progressively affects the millions of sight-enhancing photoreceptor cells called rods and cones in the retina of the human eye. It is a progressive disorder that first strikes children of primary school age. Notably, it does not affect the appearance of the eye. In fact, the only outward evidence of Fugère's condition today is her white cane and hesitant movements. Born and raised in the working-class neighbourhood of Montréal-Nord, Fugère was six when she became aware of night vision difficulties. Her sight gradually dimmed, as did her field of vision. "I was able to read with glasses and a little flashlight that I always carried with me until I was 16," she said. By then Fugère was a top student and a budding feminist with a burning desire to make a difference in the world. She began using a powerful software reading tool called ZoomText Magnifier in college (at Montreal's CEGEP Boisde-Boulogne), where she was an active volunteer in various groups. She notably joined Amnesty International, working for several years as the group's youth co-ordinator. Fugère also worked five summers as a guide at Montreal's Botanical Gardens, where she helped visitors discover plants in a senses-themed garden using smell and touch. As a law student at the Université du Québec à Montréal, Fugère said the features of her computer screen-reading program, which include spoken texts and verbal controls of menus, dialogs, list views, and messages, proved to be a godsend. "It was particularly useful for reading long judgments," she said, laughing. "Before, with my glasses and flashlight, I would have had to read them one syllable at a time." Like many of her student colleagues, Fugère decided to apply for an articling position with a provincial government Eye on the prize by Mark cardWell M arie-Douce Fugère epitomizes the exuberance and vitality of youth. Like an ambulant ray of sunshine on a warm summer day, the 26-year-old lawyer breezed into a Quebec City café recently for an interview 24 www.CANADIAN over lunch. Stylishly dressed with dark shoulder-length dark hair that framed her face and dazzling white smile, she stared whimsically across the table with deep brown eyes that seemed to sparkle when she laughed, which was often. Her eyes were also the reason for this tête à tête — a fact Fugère acknowledged in her quick-witted and forthright OctOber 2013 L a w ye r m a g . c o m MARK CARdWELL Quebec government lawyer hasn't let her blindness get in the way of pursuing a legal career.

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