Whether you want to admit it or not, the ableist prejudice exists: NALSAR's Prof Amita Dhanda

Lawyers with disabilities shared the experiences and challenges they faced while navigating the legal profession at the Shamnad Basheer Panel discussion on Disability and Law held at the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad on Sunday. .Yugal Jain, Yash Dodani and Anoop Kumar spoke on the panel. The discussion was moderated by Professor Emerita at NALSAR Dr Amita Dhanda..Jain, who has previously worked with Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and is currently Senior Associate at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, said that his journey was relatively smooth.“Generally, law firms are known to be not that great, but I've come across people (with disabilities) who have been working hard. Even keeping aside their work, the very fact of them being there means a lot.”While answering a question from the audience regarding inclusion of persons with disabilities in law firms, Jain said,“I have worked at CAM and SAM, and I truly believe that once people understand what they're looking for, law firms will be more than willing to accommodate. Cost and arranging accessibility instruments is never an issue for these law firms...If a person makes money for the company, they will grow. Sometimes, people are not aware of how a certain person may fit in their environment. This can only happen through internal conversations. For example, at SAM, we have conversations regularly about what can be changed. It takes time, but things do change.”.How Indian law firms can become more inclusive spaces for persons with disabilities.Dodani, who is a Team Leader of Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA) and is currently in his final year at NALSAR, the experience of sitting for campus recruitment was extremely disappointing. "While interning at a Tier-1 firm, an Associate was very insensitive about my disability and passed some very insensitive remarks. Taking note of this, I went to the HR department as well as the partner. However, the HR cross-questioned and asked why had I not informed them about my disability. I told them that it was mentioned on my CV and during the interview process as well...They dismissed it stating the volume of CVs they receive everyday," Dodani lamented..Recounting another distasteful experience, Dodani mentioned that the HR scolded the RCC on why they hadn't disclosed his disability.“...For recruitment as well, I applied to various law firms. I sat for Day Zero...law firms used to say that mine was one of the best interviews or would tell the RCC that I'm a very bright candidate but we could not take him for now without obviously telling any reasons for the same…”.Dodani underscored that the yardstick should not be that of an able-bodied person, but there must be a celebration of diversity because of the richness of perspective that it brings forth. .Supporting the spirit of the message conveyed by Dodani, Prof Amita Dhanda, said“This business of uniformity or one size, one rule and to be insisting on seeing the world from where you stand as a person in a position of power. That calling out has to happen constantly and needs to happen from as many diverse perspectives as we can bring in.".Prof Dhanda further drew parallels to a study where Dalit candidates who disclosed their identities made applications to private institutions or corporations and were ignored or not called for interviews."...whether you want to admit it or not, the ableist prejudice exists...Each of us adjusts into a world we're born into and believe that the whole world is like that...diversity doesn't exist only between the disabled and non-disabled, it exists even within the disability sector...all persons with disabilities cannot be clubbed up together because everyone has different needs," she said..Senior Executive at HCL Technologies Kumar was always very vocal and assertive about his disability. Recounting his experience, he said,"...My name was not in the list of selected people on the only interview I gave. They took almost 15 days to assess whether I would be able to work on the system or not, and this is quite unfortunate because I was being interviewed online...the recruiters doubted whether I took help or independently logged in to the tool during the interview...So the employment scenario is not that great...Reasonable accommodations to me is not just accessible tools and technologie,s or creating physical infrastructure where we can operate independently, it is also about some sort of constant support that needs to be put in place which requires expenditure by these companies.".Paying tribute to the late Prof Shamnad Basheer, he said,"...I have hardly ever cared about what the person in front thinks of me...Prof Basheer always encouraged me to speak my mind, and I continue to do that even with my bosses.".We are conducting a survey to gather experiences faced by lawyers with disabilities while navigating employment in the legal space. The survey also intends to seek perspectives from recruiters in the legal field to understand the difficulties in hiring persons with disabilities. Fill the form here to contribute.