A young lady has accomplished something that has been termed “truly remarkable” by becoming the first blind and Black barrister in Britain.

After five years of study at a university in London, Jessikah Inaba, 23 years old, earned her qualification last week. She credits both her friends and her tutors for helping her fill in the gaps as she used Braille to complete her whole degree.

Jess, who is totally blind, used Braille the entire time she was a student at the University of Law – London Bloomsbury. 
She began her accelerated legal studies in September 2017 and, two years later, a master’s program in addition to a professional development course.

Braille can be read from specially printed books or from a dedicated screen that typically displays one line at a time. She claimed that it took her university seven months to acquire one of her two important study materials so she could read it on her computer and five months for the other.

She also noted that her Braille screen had lost a significant amount of information due to graphics and tables in the books.

According to her, she completed the majority of her coursework by creating her own Braille materials from lecture notes or having friends read books to her.

Jess told Mirror UK of her accomplishment. She said;

“It’s been crazy; I still can’t believe I’ve done it.” I’ll wake up one day and realize 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 institution set up one-on-one tutoring to help her when her lack of books prevented her from pushing further.

Jess said:

“I was spending more time preparing my own learning materials than I was studying.”