23-year-old woman, Jessikah Inaba, becomes UK’s first blind Black barrister

23-year-old woman 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 told Mirror UK: ‘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.

‘It was hard and I often thought of giving up, but my supportive family gave me courage and strength.

‘I always believed in myself from the start – there’s nothing about me which means this isn’t possible.

‘I know I can do this job really well, and the more people like me who go through training the easier it will become.

‘It’s a really good feeling, I know I’m giving hope to others in similar situations to mine. There’s a triple-glazed glass ceiling.

I’m not the most common gender or colour, and I have a disability, but by pushing through I’m easing the burden on the next person like me.’

She added that the university organised one-on-one tuition to support her when the lack of books held her back.

Jess said: ‘I was spending more time preparing my own learning materials than I was studying.