23-year-old, Jessikah Inaba, becomes UK’s first blind Black barrister
A young woman has become Britain’s first blind and Black barrister, in an achievement that has been described as ‘truly remarkable.
23-year-old Jessikah Inaba qualified last week after studying for five years at a university in London. She completed her entire course using Braille and also credits her friends as well as her tutors for helping to fill in the gaps.
Jess is completely blind and had to use Braille throughout her time at the University of Law – London Bloomsbury. She started her accelerated law degree in September 2017 before starting a master’s two years later alongside a professional training course.
Braille can be read on a special screen that usually gives one line at a time, or from specially printed books. She said it took seven months for her university to obtain one of her two key study texts so she could read on her computer, and five months for the other.
And, because of pictures and tables in the books, her Braille screen missed huge chunks of material, she said.
She says she got through most of her studies by making her own Braille materials from her lecture notes, or from friends reading books to her.
On her achievement, Jess said: ‘It’s been crazy – I still can’t really believe I’ve done it. One day I’ll wake up and realise how amazing this is.