It was never a question of our ability, but rather a question of opening doors for us and breaking down the barriers.
role in achieving complete accessibility and equality for the deaf and hard of hearing, and credits email and instant messaging as an important advance for the deaf in the workplace. One of the most important technologies, he says, has been the relay system. “Tis system is required under
Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” he says. “It com- prises many versions that allow all of us to make and receive telephone calls regardless of our preferred mode of communication whether it be American Sign Language (ASL), lipreading, or captioning, as well as the ability to speak for ourselves while receiving messages visually.” It was by chance that Rosenblum
wound up serving people like himself. “I originally wanted to be an attor-
ney in the intellectual property area,” he says, “but I was unable to get a job or even a clerkship in this area when I was studying at Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago Kent College of Law or afterwards. I suspected it was because I was deaf. I was first offered a position as a summer clerk with Northwestern University Law School because they had an ongoing special education case that involved deaf chil- dren. From there, I gained other clerk- ships that involved disability rights law. Trough those experiences, I was offered a position with a small law firm that focused on disability rights,
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special education, probate law, and nonprofit corpora- tions. Most of my caseload involved disability rights, and I’ve never looked back.” His experi-
ences as a lawyer reinforced the realization that accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing had a long way to go. “When you
grow up with obstacles, you get used to it,” he says, “but when I became a lawyer in 1992, the same year the American Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect, the issues and the obstacles were appar- ent and could be removed, so I realized there is a lot of work to do.” Tis led him to establish the Midwest
Center for Law and the Deaf (MCLD). “I was the only profoundly deaf
attorney in Illinois that knew sign language,” he says. “When the deaf and hard of hearing community found out that I was an attorney offering services in disability rights, it seemed like every deaf and hard of hearing person in the state contacted me for legal assistance.” However, when he contacted other
lawyers for referral, he found many would not take deaf clients. “It was appalling to me and actu-
ally violated the ADA. Attorneys are not allowed to turn away individuals as clients solely on the basis of their being deaf or hard of hearing, and are required by the ADA to provide communication access (such as a sign language interpreter) at no additional cost to the clients. I felt I had to do something about it, so in 1997 I founded the MCLD to ensure that we could refer deaf and hard of hearing people to attorneys who were willing to take them on as clients.” Te process can be challenging, explains Rosenblum, who hired a
director for MCLD. A lawyer needs to hire an interpreter for the initial con- sultation, but the court is responsible for obtaining the interpreters during the legal hearing. To help overcome lawyers’ reluctance to take on the initial expense, he offered the promise of additional clients if all went well. He proposed a change to the license
to practice law that would provide communication access for deaf clients. “Interest in this concept is growing
in some states, such as Illinois, Texas, and North Carolina,” he says. Te current non-compliance with
the ADA in such issues as accom- modations in the workplace and in public facilities, despite much litiga- tion to remedy it, has been frustrat- ing for him. “Tis must change,” he says, “and
that is why I decided to take the job as the CEO of the National Association of the Deaf.” Rosenblum says more deaf and
hard of hearing lawyers are needed. Of the more than 1 million licensed lawyers in the U.S., he says only about 300 identify themselves as deaf or hard of hearing. As CEO of the National Association
of the Deaf, Rosenblum believes he can provide the leadership that will see the day when full compliance with the ADA is never a question. But it’s up to those who have a disability to believe in themselves and for others to give them a chance he says. “People with disabilities are capable
of so many things, but only need the opportunity to shine,” he says. “Forty years ago, there were only a handful of deaf attorneys. It was never a question of our ability, but rather a question of opening doors for us and breaking down the barriers. We are very talented and we can be successful. We can be successful lawyers, and we’re hoping that we can be given the opportunity to show what we can do.” D&B
Tom Calarco is a freelance writer based in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
JULY/AUGUST 2012 DIVERSITY & THE BAR® 15
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