Guest post by Harry Charlton, chief executive of 7BR
Charlton: Accessibility remains a real issue for the legal profession
Many lawyers and legal staff will be returning to their offices in light of the government’s Covid-19 revised guidance on working from home.
While many will be looking forward to returning to a familiar working environment and re-connecting with peers and colleagues, disabled lawyers and staff may not relish the prospect of re-adjusting to unaccommodating public transport, antiquated buildings, and poorly adjusted working environments.
Accessibility remains a real issue for the legal profession, particularly for the Bar. In a recent survey, 81% of barristers who have requested reasonable adjustments or support said the process created real stress and anxiety for them.
Accessibility is multi-faceted and means different things to different people – from how someone enters and navigates a building, through to using accessible language to help inclusivity.
Take, for example, Legal London, which is no stranger to Georgian buildings with smart stone steps leading up to the front door, narrow corridors and old-fashioned staircases.
These buildings are not accessible in the modern definition of the term. Yet one of the core skills of legal practice is ensuring that clients feel welcome, understood, and in safe hands – and so having accessible facilities is an important milestone to achieving this goal.
Taking conscious steps to boost accessibility demonstrates a genuine regard for individuals’ experience. We have tried to demonstrate our commitment to this ethos through the installation of Sesame Steps to our front door at 7 Bedford Row, whereby an innovative lift mechanism is elegantly and hydraulically concealed beneath the steps.
On approaching the steps, the lift can be independently operated to allow a seamless entrance into the building for all users. Thus removing a fundamental impediment to accessing an 18th century Grade II Georgian townhouse.
The hurdles we overcame in order to achieve this breakthrough were multiple – ranging from securing planning through to funding and delivering what is a complex and delicate project. Unfortunately, disability access is so often an afterthought, addressed at a point by when many will have already felt excluded by inaccessible infrastructure.
Positive change isn’t brought about overnight. It often comes about only with a hard battle from disabled people to educate and change the social attitudes of those not disabled by society, who often have little holistic understanding of a disabled person’s experiences.
Openness to learning and taking the steps to understand the experiences of disabled people minimises the risks of unconscious microaggressions which many in society so often commit.
Just one aspect here is recognising the impact that language has, such as perpetuating a false notion of ‘basic’ day-to-day tasks being ‘easy’ for all. The phrases ‘jump on a train’ or ‘nip to the loo’ are often used to suggest the speed and simplicity of such actions – but may can only be applied to able-bodied individuals.
The reality for disabled people is much more difficult and often requires extensive forward planning – for example, phoning ahead to ensure that the train can provide ramps for access at both ends of the journey.
Or needing to check whether establishments have disabled toilets, which in some cases aren’t large enough for additional wheelchair or carer access.
The fact that these everyday figures of speech disregard the experiences of millions disabled by society reinforces the status quo of being able-bodied as the norm, with disabled bodies as the Other.
Without a conscious recognition in the legal space and across society more broadly of how daily colloquial language fortifies (rather than dismantles ableism), practical steps taken to enable people disabled by society will not take place.
Outside of language used in daily life, positive change can be brought about by having a disabled person in the room when decisions are made, helping to minimise the risk of individuals feeling excluded further.
This can be difficult for chambers, considering a real lack of representation of barristers with a disability throughout the profession.
Whilst 19% of the working age population are registered with a disability, only 3.1% of barristers declare having a disability. The likelihood of having a disability rises with age, and for an ageing society, issues concerning lack of disability access will affect an increasing number of lawyers in the coming decades.
Having an inclusive and diverse workforce has been long proven to bring financial and cultural benefits to a business. Any steps towards this are (and should be recognised as) wholly positive actions and shouldn’t just be regarded as a box-ticking exercise.
In light of this, access for disabled legal staff or clients must not continue to be an afterthought or something to be solved as a quick-fix solution. For an effective, permanent outcome, structural and cultural change to the built environment and policies must be made.
As one example, particularly in the wake of hybrid working measures implemented by many law firms, consideration of how virtual/hybrid meetings and hearings could be improved in order to meet the diverse needs of both legal staff and clients.
Similarly, the legal sector must make it clear across all communications as to how disabled individuals can access and navigate their buildings, to avoid them facing difficulties upon arrival.
Virtual access to professional development opportunities and training should also be commonplace.
The viewpoints and experiences of disabled people must play a vital part in resolving long standing accessibility issues for the sector. Disabled legal staff and clients have long deserved better – and these imperative resolutions must start now.
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