>> would you call me "haben"? >> yes ma'am. >> i focused on using my skills to advance opportunities. >> why did you choose that type of law? >> i was born deaf blind. most of the world is designed for people who can see and hear and when we ask for accommodation , for example in braille instead of print, that limits our ability to get aneducation, to go and get a job . i've experienced a lot of those barriers and i realized the law allows us to create change and i wanted to create change so my own personal story is, my struggle inspired me to become an attorney. >> here is her book "haben", the death blind woman who conquered harvard law, first deaf blind person to graduate from harvard law school, is that right? >> that's right what was that experience like? >> we had a lot of unknowns. i reached out to another deaf blind harvard graduate and asked them how did you do this? how did you do oral arguments , how did you do exams? i had to figure a lot of it out and it ultimately started back in almond trace law whe

>> guest: would you call me haben? >> host: haben, yes, ma'am. >> guest: and the kind of law i do is disability rights. i'm focused on using my skills to advance opportunities for people with disabilities. >> host: why did you choose that type of law? >> guest: i was born deafblind. most of our world is designed for people who can see and hear, and when we ask for accommodations -- for example, getting materials in braille instead of print -- a lot of society refuses, putting up barriers. and that limits our ability to get an education, to go and get a job, and that's not fair. so i experienced a lot -- [inaudible] and the law is one way that we can create change. and i wanted to create a change and remove barriers so people with disabilities -- for people with disabilities. is so my own personal story and struggle inspired me to become an attorney. >> host: and here is her book, "has beenen: the deafblind woman who conquered harvard law." first deafblind person to graduate from harvard, is that correct? from harvard l

>> working with haben girma, , . but i'm a caption or so i caption tv, college classes, plays, musical come sporting event for the deaf and hard of hearing. >> host: how long have you been doing that? >> i been doing that for three years. >> host: this is a question for haben. is this system, is this something you came up with, or who invented what we are doing here? >> guest: so this is a braille computer, and devices like this have been around since about the '80s. but for the most part they don't have bluetooth. this model came out with bluetooth, and i start asking myself, would it be possible to connect it to a keyboard? and if i connected it to a keyboard, could i better communicate with people? braille is my strongest way to communicate. i'm not fluent, and most hearing people don't know sign language. most hearing people can type. so if i had someone -- most likely they can type and i'll be able to read what they're saying in braille. so i spent time looking for different keyboards, testing it with the braill

>> would you call me "haben"? >> yes ma'am. >> i focused on using my skills to advance opportunities. >> why did you choose that type of law? >> i was born deaf blind.

. >> disability rights attorney haben girma is next on booktv. born deafblind at birth, she talks about navigating through a sighted, hearing world. after that, ibram kendi, and former secretary of defense jim mattis recounts his military career. that all starts now. >> host: and now on bookt

. >>> saturday on book tv, at 9:10:00 p.9:10 eastern our interview with haben. >> other students can just go to school and expect teachers to teach them. i couldn't do that. i had to think about what might i be missing. what are the potential unknowns here, how can i find those unknowns. and all my life has been this process of trying to identify unknowns and figure them out and come up with solutions. >> and at 10:00 p.m. on after words, america university professor talks about his book "how to be an anti-racist." >> i don't think even well meaning people, even people who are trying to be part of the movement against racism recognize really that the history of this term. when jim crow segregationists were charged with being racist, they said i'm not racist. today even white nationalists are saying i'm not racist. no matter whether they're in the white house or planning the next mass shooting. >> then at 11:00 p.m. former defense secretary jim mattis recounts his military career and his thoughts on leadership in his book "call sign chaos." watch book tv every weekend on c-span 2. >>>

. >> host: now on booktv we want to introduce you to author haben girma. she is also a lawyer. ms. girma, what kind of law do you