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"Ten years ago, when I would have had to write or type out everything, it would have been be extremely difficult. The computer is a great equalizer." — MARTIN ANDERSON, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT work, he probably couldn't have contin- ued. He was the supreme communicator and it was so frustrating to lose that, but when you find another way to carry on, that's cause for celebration." Filer's determination is being echoed in the use of technology by many other lawyers with disabilities. If he was still working, Filer would surely be pleased to see Martin Anderson, of the immigration law section of the Justice Department, driving into court on his scooter, or Ja- son Mitschele, a federal Crown counsel, who uses technology to overcome his blindness. He would applaud the use by Anderson's colleague Margherita Braccio of a braille laptop, or be pleased to see Robert Fenton, counsel for the Calgary Police Service's police chief reading doc- uments on his pocket-sized daisy player. "In court it is very much BYO technol- ogy," says Mitschele, who since 2003 has been practising despite being blind. "The only assistance provided by the court is that the court reporters often e-mail transcripts instead of giving me hard copies. It saves me a couple of steps." Back in their offices, these busy lawyers employ even more technology that can be adapted to their special needs. All the lawyers interviewed who have a visual or speech impairment use voice-to-text or text-to-voice software, along with opti- cal character recognition scanners. The most popular programs are JAWS or J- Say. "I'm not a techie guy. I use it because I need it," says Mitschele. With JAWS, he reads e-mail and pulls up cases on the in- ternet. With the accompanying scanner, he scans text to speech. "I wouldn't be able to do the job, as I do, without it." Fenton, who is also visually impaired, is a frequent user of J-Say. "J-Say pro- vides feedback on what you just did," he explains. "You speak into a microphone and use headphones to hear it played back. The newest version of J-Say has more macro capability, so you only have to type in a name or address once, then you just say the file name to pull it up. If you have 150 or so files, it's much better not to have to remember file numbers and phone numbers." Fenton also uses a braille printer for preparing examina- tions and cross-examinations. Anderson, whose cerebral palsy affects his hand-eye co-ordination, walking, and speech, has customized regular software to meet his needs. He is unable to use speech-recognition software for a num- ber of reasons. "Number one, it is harder to talk than type; and, number two, how I say words changes from morning to af- ternoon, or even day to day." Instead, he uses a version of MS Word autocorrect containing several thousand shortened versions of words. He only has to type a few letters and a whole word appears. "Ten years ago, when I would have had to write or type out everything, it would have been be extremely difficult. The computer is a great equalizer." The degree of severity of an impair- ment can also allow for innovation in the workplace. Arvin Gupta, currently arti- cling at Mazin Rooz Mazin in Toronto, has limited vision, for which he uses an electronic magnifier similar to a portable, miniature television camera that creates an enlarged image. "It's not fast enough to use in court or when people are wait- ing. I can't check documents on the fly." He is still in the process of figuring out what will work best for him. "I may con- sider implementing a braille printer, pri- marily for organizational purposes." He finds out about new technology through word of mouth. Braccio believes being a disabled lawyer is possible even without technology but says working with technology is much more resource-efficient. She laments that the technology is so expensive. "It depends on your employer and the indi- 40 M ARCH 2008 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com vidual if you can afford it." Gupta's em- ployers take what he calls "the black box approach." "I tell them what I use, they make whatever provision they can, then they expect me to do the work." The constant improvements in soft- ware have been a boon to lawyers with disabilities. The first version of JAWS did not provide much help with the internet, and the original DOS-based version of Quicklaw was also limiting. "Now that Quicklaw is internet based, it's a such a blessing," says Fenton. "If you are run- ning the same queries regularly, the re- sults will be e-mailed without cost. In the old days, you'd have to do it manually and it would cost money all the time." Electronic discovery systems are also as- sisting by getting more and more docu- ments into electronic form. Despite the progress, there are still limitations to be overcome. Some soft- ware applications are not compatible with certain speech programs. For in- stance, with Adobe Acrobat only certain kinds of non-secure items are readable. Older courthouses, as well, still pose challenges for wheelchair users, and the lack of wireless access in them limits the use of laptops for legal research on site. This means that in the world of disabled lawyers there is still a role for "human technology." "I still need a sighted person to look over a letter to make sure it's presentable, or to highlight a case book, or to help with filing when I have hard copies," says Fenton. Mitschele has a full-time assis- tant in court and in the office, but on the day of our interview his assistant had gone home sick. "There's still heaps I can do," he says. "Twenty years ago, using a Smith Corona, it would have been so much more challenging, especially for citing cases and inserting quotes, which I now do with a simple cut and paste. We've come a long way."