Welcome to LSNTAP’s Gender and Cultural Competency with Legal Technology:

Considerations and Best Practices Webinar!

September 9, 2015

A few logistics before we start…

LSNTAP is recording this training and will post it to their SlideShare account for the LSNTAP and SWEB websites.

Panelists and Introductions• Camille Holmes, Director, Leadership &

Racial Equity Initiative of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association

• Xander Karsten, Project Manager, LegalServer

• Mirenda Meghelli, LawHelp Interactive Program Coordinator, Pro Bono Net (moderator)

•Talley Wells, Director, Disability Integration Project, Atlanta Legal Aid Society

Roadmap• Culture, Equity, Inclusion and Legal Technology

• Website Accessibility and Inclusion: Olmsteadrights.org

• Gender Identity and Legal Technology

• Gendered Language and Forms

• Q&A; Discussion

Takeaways

• As legal services technology tools evolve, how do we ensure they reflect the diverse populations they are meant to serve?

• What are the best practices in designing and upgrading legal technology with sensitivity to issues like gender identity and expression?

• What are the best practices in designing and upgrading legal technology with sensitivity to issues racial and ethnic diversity and disability?

Culture, Inclusion, Equity and Legal Technology

Camille Holmes, Director, Leadership & Racial Equity, NLADA

Before How, Why?• To affirmatively create an inclusive platform that accurately

reflects a full range of identities

•To capture accurate data

•To establish data infrastructure that will support meaningful data analysis for more effective engagement and advocacy

•Diversity •Inclusion•Structural Oppression•Equity•Cultural Competence•Cultural Humility•Priming

Definitions

•Diversity is variety. It the statistical presence of a variety of people or things.

•Kinds of diversity with respect to identity - racial, ethnic, gender, ability, educational background, opinion, geographic, class, occupational, sexual orientation, etc.

•Common usage tends to focus narrowly on racial or ethnic diversity but diversity should always have a qualifier: geographic diversity, diversity of thinking styles.

•Only groups can be diverse. People are not.

Diversity

•Inclusion is the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure. More than simply diversity and numerical representation, inclusion involves authentic and empowered participation and a true sense of belonging.

Source: Race Equity and Inclusion Action Guide: 7 Steps to Advance and Embed Race Equity and Inclusion Within Your Organization, The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2014), http://www.aecf.org/resources/race-equity-and-inclusion-action-guide/

Inclusion

•The normalization and legitimization of an array of dynamics – historical, cultural, educational, institutional and interpersonal – that routinely advantage privileged groups while producing cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for oppressed groups.

•It is a system of hierarchy and inequity. Structural oppression lies underneath and across society, permeating its entire history, culture and institutions.

•It perpetuates, normalizes and legitimates the effects of oppression, while often making those effects invisible to the narrow legal definition of unlawful discrimination.

Source: Baltimore Racial Justice Action, http://bmoreantiracist.org/

Structural Oppression

•Equity is defined as “the state, quality or ideal of being just, impartial and fair.” The concept of equity is synonymous with fairness and justice. It is helpful to think of equity as not simply a desired state of affairs or a lofty value. To be achieved and sustained, equity needs to be thought of as a structural and systemic concept

Source: Race Equity and Inclusion Action Guide: 7 Steps to Advance and Embed Race Equity and Inclusion Within Your Organization, The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2014), http://www.aecf.org/resources/race-equity-and-inclusion-action-guide/

Equity

•Achieving equity involves the creation and proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes and actions that produce equitable power, access, treatment, opportunities and outcomes for all.

Source: Terrence Keleher, Race Forward, www.raceforward.org

Equity (cont.)

• Cultural humility is the “ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented (or open to the other) in relation to aspects of cultural identity that are most important to the [person].”

• Cultural humility is different from other culturally-based training ideals because it focuses on self-humility rather than achieving a state of knowledge or awareness, particularly of a culture to which one does not belong.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_humility, citing Hook, J.N. (2013). Cultural Humility: Measuring openness to culturally diverse clients. Journal of Counseling Psychology.

Cultural Humility v. Competence

•Cultural humility incorporates a consistent commitment to learning and reflection, but also an understanding of power dynamics and one’s own role in society.

•There are three main components to cultural humility: lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and self-critique, fix power imbalances, and develop partnerships with people and groups who advocate for others.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_humility

Cultural Humility

Takeaways

• As legal services technology tools evolve, how do we ensure they reflect the diverse populations they are meant to serve?

• What are the best practices in designing and upgrading legal technology with sensitivity to issues like gender identity and expression?

• What are the best practices in designing and upgrading legal technology with sensitivity to issues racial and ethnic diversity and disability?

Revised Takeaways

• As legal services technology tools evolve, how do we ensure they reflect the diversity of populations they are meant to serve?

• What are the best practices in designing and upgrading legal technology to accurately capture and reflect gender identity and expression?

• What are the best practices in designing and upgrading legal technology to accurately capture and reflect race, ethnicity and ability?

Cultural Competency in Legal Aid Generally

• To be culturally competent in legal aid means having the capacity to provide effective legal assistance that is grounded in an awareness of and sensitivity to the diverse cultures in the provider’s service area.

• A cultural group is identified by shared beliefs, values, customs and behaviors that define what it is. Cultural competence is particularly important with racially, ethnically and culturally distinct communities, and with persons who primarily use a language other than English.

• Cultural competence is also important with persons with disabilities for whom there are barriers to communication that might impede the formation of a relationship of trust necessary for effective representation, and with others who share distinct characteristics that call for heightened awareness and sensitivity.

Source: http://povertylaw.org/sites/default/files/files/training/blst/aba_standards_-_2.4.pdf

Cultural Competency and its Applications for Legal Technology

• Inclusive Design/ Universal Design: design that considers the full range of human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age and other forms of human differences

Cultural Competency and its Applications for Legal Technology

• Technology designed with multi-lingual functionality

Cultural Competency and its Applications for Legal Technology

• Inclusive development and staffing: inclusion of racially diverse groups important at each stage of tech project development particularly where the final product is meant to meet the needs of racially diverse clients

Website Accessibility and Inclusion

Talley WellsDisability Integration Project

Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc.http://www.OlmsteadRights.org/

ctwells@atlantalegalaid.org

We will discuss

• Why make a website accessible?• How to get started?• What are the basics?• Lessons learned• Top Tips

Why accessibility and inclusion?Federal Requirements

ADASection 508 of Rehabilitation Act

Expands Reach 20% website users have impairment, including 10% of men color blind.

Promotes InclusionMakes Better Website

Where to Start: The Guide!

1. Perceivable2. Operable3. Understandable4. Robust

Google Short Link to Guide: http://goo.gl/SQcMJW

Section 508 vs. WCAG

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act 1998 Amendment requires accessible technology for purchases by federal agencies (not including recipients of federal funds)

Website Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) Created by World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative. Primarily for people with disabilities who use assistive technologies

WCAG 2.0 Recommendations

1. Text Alternatives for non-text content2. Captioning3. Create content that can be read by different devices4. Make content visually and audibly distinguishable5. Make all functionality available from keyboard6. Provide users enough time to read and use content7. Make content so as to avoid seizures8. Make sure all users can navigate from where they are9. Make content readable and understandable10. Make web pages predictable11. Help users avoid and correct mistakes12. Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive

technologies.

Top 5 Tips

1. Alt Image2. Captioning3. Color Contrast4. Shifting Images5. Formatting

Inclusive Language and Images

Have inclusive pictures, including people with disabilities

Use People First Language

Lessons from OlmsteadRights.Org

1. Plan Ahead Educate Yourself

Budget Include Time for Corrections2. Find People to Talk it Out3. Evaluate and Re-Evaluate4. Audit

For More Information

LSNTAP Guide to Accessibility http://goo.gl/SQcMJW

Comparison of 508/WCAG http://jimthatcher.com/sidebyside.htm

Web Aim Intro to Accessibility http://webaim.org/intro/

WAVE Web Aim’s Accessibility Evaluation Tool http://wave.webaim.org/ Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ Section508.Gov http://www.section508.gov/

GENDER AND ONLINE CONTENT CREATION

Xander Karsten, Project Manager, LegalServer

We will discuss

•Asking about gender:–What are we asking and why?

•How online platforms ask for gender •Gendered language •Other considerations when creating online tools and content

What are you asking when asking someone’s gender?

Some Options...

What pronoun the user prefers?What gender can we check for our funders? What gender the user identifies with/as?What gender marker is on the users legal documents?What primary sex-characteristics does a user possess?

Do you need to know a users gender?If not- Don’t Ask!If you do- ask why?

Suggestions*I need to know a users pronouns (to make the interface easier to navigate, funding purposes etc)To make this process it easier, please provide a pronoun. OR We collect some demographic information for funding, what pronouns do you use?

He/Him She/Her Please provide: ________

I need to know a user's gender identity (i.e.: it is material to the users legal issue, funding purposes)What gender do you identify as? ORWe collect some demographic information for funding, what gender do you identify as? Open text box

I need to know the users gender marker on their legal documentsWhat is the sex on your birth certificate or court order?

MaleFemale

*These are my suggestions, my suggestions only- they do NOT represent my agency, nor the entire trans communities.

Examples from other online platforms

•Facebook–Provides users +50 gender identities–Targets ads based on users pronoun preference

•Groove Shark –“I Identify as..”

Examples from other online platforms

•Determine what information you are seeking•Determine if you need the information•Decided what, if any, questions you are going to ask

Now what?

Gendered Neutral Language

What to change and what to avoid•Focus on the substance or function, not the gender

•Use formal titles rather than gendered prefixes

•Avoid using pronouns unless you are referring to someone whose pronoun you know

You don’t JUST have to use “their” or “(s)he”

“A lawyer must diligently represent his client”

•Make the noun pluralA lawyer must diligently represent their client

•Repeat the noun rather than using a pronounA lawyer must diligently represent that lawyer’s client

•Omit the pronoun completelyA lawyer must diligently represent clients.

•Change to the second personAs a lawyer, you must diligently represent your client.

Other Considerations

•Content Testing–Engage underserved communities to do user testing!

•Outreach–What faces are you using in your outreach?–Where are you providing your outreach?

In general…•Be obvious about how information will be used

–To create an avatar–To be plead in the actual case– For funding purposes

•Think about what you actually need, and ask only for that!

–Consider whether you need to use titles –If you must ask, be open about options

•Make it easy to change information

For More Information:• Talley Wells, Director, Disability Integration Project, Atlanta

Legal Aid Society, ctwells@atlantalegalaid.org

• Xander Karsten, Project Manager, LegalServer, xkarsten@legalserver.org

• Camille Holmes, Director, Race Equity and Racial Justice Initiative of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, c.holmes@nlada.org

• Mirenda Meghelli, LawHelp Interactive Program Coordinator, Pro Bono Net, mwatkins@probono.net

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING TODAY!

More information at www.lsntap.org

Contact Information

Brian Rowe (brianr@nwjustice.org) or via chat on www.lsntap.org

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