How the Legal Language Shapes our Understanding of ‘Disability’
If you search up ‘lawyer’ on Google Images, the first few images that come up are shining, polished stock photographs of women in pencil skirts, men with ties, bright lights and tight collars – all things that hint at a sensory nightmare for me. I’ve never been able to settle on a label for it, but there is at least medicine for what I carry in my mind. There is also an acronym: MDD, or Major Depressive Disorder.
The stereotypes, I’ll say, can be true at times. I get worn out easily. Overthinking is woven into my daily routine. Sleep is respite. All the known symptoms of my condition appear incompatible with our images of lawyers. In television – think ‘Suits’ – a ‘different’ ability can only be a superpower. Emotional deficiencies are tolerable in the workplace if they come with an eidetic memory. If not, what’s the use?
It is true that most law school assignments and deadlines are designed for the neurotypical student, with neurodivergence only coming in handy when it offers up mark-boosting creativity, and that is far from guaranteed. The law firm offices that I’ve been to have also evidently been tailored to someone other than myself, with blinding lights and ninety-degree corners that punish the curvature of a different mind. Each sign seems to point toward a loss, as if every fibre of plush, client-friendly client is brushing me towards an exit, until a client comes.
The images of ‘lawyers’ on Google are quite different from what comes up when you search ‘lawyer and a client’. The client, oftentimes is in an orange jumpsuit, has their hands balled up into fists or a child confused by complicated advice. Unlike the Google Images lawyer, I know how it is to be there with them, in a haze of emotions and bewilderment with reality. The stereotypes fall away, then, as empathy arises. Empathy, or the act of being able to share in someone’s feelings over the pity of sympathy, brings me to an advantage. I know more than just what it ‘must be like’ to be in their position, I know exactly how it is and how I can help.
For the 5-6% of lawyers that have a long-term illness or disability, it can be difficult to see where our edge over others arises in an ever-competitive environment.1 The designs of our law schools and offices are malleable and must be adapted to improve accessibility. Law students and lawyers are not, and never will be untouchable bastions of perfected knowledge and practice. That is a power unto itself.
1 Abbey Dalton, Ella Alexander and Natalie Wade, ‘No More Hiding in Plain Sight: The Need for a
More Inclusive Legal Profession’ (2022) 171 Precedent 4.
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