Aided by technology, alumna sees success

Pshon Barrett (79) has an appreciation of technology. Her computer’s voice synthesizer software reads aloud her e-mails, Internet files, print materials and Westlaw documents. It also prints off scanned documents in Braille.

As a trial attorney in the U.S. attorney’s office’s civil division in Jackson, Barrett handles cases arising from enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide legal support for the Financial Litigation Unit.

“Technology has allowed me to be much more independent in the workplace,” she said.

Barrett began working at the Justice Department Criminal Division in 1980. In the early ’90s, she spent 15 months in Washington, D.C., on detail in the disability rights section of the department’s Civil Rights Division, where she was assigned to enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act. Upon her return to Jackson, she added ADA enforcement to her caseload responsibilities.

Barrett’s civil division chief, Al Jernigan, calls her “extraordinarily talented.”

“She is a recognized expert in the field of disability law,” Jernigan said. “It is rare to find somebody with all of her qualifications who is such a hard worker and dedicated employee.”

Jernigan also noted that Barrett not only knows the law but also can quote most of it directly, something many lawyers never learn.

In the fall, Barrett visited a disability law class at UM to share some of her experiences and give students a real-life view of their texts.

“Pshon’s personal and practice experience is directly relevant to what I teach my students about disability law and policy,” said professor Michael Waterstone. “I have known Pshon for three years. She has an impressive record of accomplishment with the U.S. attorney’s office and has a strong reputation at the state and national levels.”

Her law school experience was far from typical. Blind from birth, Barrett managed law school by listening to her case books on tape, typing notes on a Braille typewriter and having readers read aloud library documents.

“If I had had direct access to Westlaw, it would have made law school much easier,” she said.

Today, technology has made life easier, but there are still some places in her day-to-day activities, such as attending meetings or going to court, for which Barrett requires a legal assistant to communicate to her what she cannot see.

“I think my own experiences have given me a special interest in enforcing the ADA, but attorneys with disabilities are involved in all facets of the law practice, and many of those do not include disability issues,” Barrett said.

—Kara Givens

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