25-year-old Haben Girma has become the first-ever blind and deaf person to graduate from the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
Haben Girma, who is now a global icon for achieving her exceptional feat, graduated with a Juris Doctor degree (J.D.) from Harvard Law School despite being both blind and deaf in 2013.
Girma lost her vision and hearing as a result of an unknown progressive condition beginning in early childhood, retaining just 1% of her sight. During her early life in the United States, she benefited from civil rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.
She also had accessible technology, such as a digital Braille device, to aid her in reading. She graduated from Skyline High School in the United States at 17.
According to Habren’s autobiography, where she detailed how she had to learn how to navigate in a world designed for people who see and hear, she defines disability as an opportunity for innovation.
She explained that she learned non-visual techniques for everything from dancing salsa to handling an electric saw. She explained that her hearing translator, Arianne, types what people say and do into a special computer that wirelessly feeds the information to a Braille computer Girma holds.
She runs her fingers over the dots to read, and she responds through speech. “My parents came to the United States seeking opportunities, and they found it’s not geography that creates freedom; it’s people and communities that create freedom,” Girma said.
