Visually impaired judge delivers verdicts from Dubai while walking
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Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/3sV0hpH
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
#UAEnews #Dubai #blindjudge
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NewsTranscript
00:00We will read the cases that are due for that week.
00:04So there's 25 cases that are due by Wednesday of each week.
00:08You can't, you can't make a mistake
00:11because people only have one chance to appeal.
00:13That a blind judge is a better judge than a sighted judge.
00:18This should be the crosswalk, right?
00:39A staircase.
00:40There's going to be a stairway.
00:41Hey Siri, can you text messages?
00:42Jason Turkish sent a new message.
00:53Good morning, so my name is Richard Bernstein
00:55and I'm a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court,
00:59which is the highest court within the state of Michigan.
01:03And I have to say, I love the UAE.
01:07I've had the opportunity to travel all over the world,
01:10but this is such a special place.
01:13As a blind person, it is very challenging to travel
01:16and to do things on your own.
01:18But the beauty of this country and the beauty of the people
01:22is that you're never alone.
01:24I have just become a huge fan of the UAE
01:27because I have fallen in love with the people,
01:29for it's the people that allow for me to be independent
01:33and to be able to go out and experience so much while I'm here.
01:36Since I'm an appellate court judge, I'm a high court judge,
01:39the work that I do is all appellate.
01:42So what that requires is basically every week,
01:46there are 25 cases that I have to be responsible for.
01:50So every single week in Lansing, Michigan,
01:54the justices will gather and we will decide
01:57which cases we're going to grant leave to
02:00or which cases we're not going to hear.
02:03And for all intents purposes, these are people's entire lives
02:07that are hanging in the balance.
02:09These are people who in many situations
02:11have been sentenced to life in prison
02:13without the possibility of parole.
02:16Ultimately it's done through research,
02:18it's done through writing
02:20and it's done through the transcripts.
02:22So if there wasn't a pandemic,
02:24you would be able to be in the courtroom
02:26being able to do this work.
02:28But due to the fact that we're currently
02:30in the middle of the global pandemic,
02:33nobody is meeting in person.
02:35My attitude is, well, you might as well use the time wisely.
02:40You can work from anywhere.
02:41Why not have the chance to work from here,
02:44do the work that I have to do
02:46that is required to be a judge,
02:48while at the same time have an opportunity to do work here
02:52to help promote people with disabilities
02:54and to help change perceptions
02:56and understandings that people have of the disabled.
02:59I've had the opportunity, I've done 24 marathons
03:03and I've done the full Ironman competition.
03:05Yes, I love athletics.
03:08Athletics for me gives me so much energy and excitement
03:11and I'm also a very spiritual person
03:13and I just believe that it allows for us
03:16to have a deeper connection with God.
03:18There are some people whose bodies are very infirmed,
03:21you know, like my body, you know, because I'm blind,
03:23you know, it's not as strong as other people.
03:26But I find that your spirit and your soul
03:31can allow for you to basically transcend
03:33the limitations of the body.
03:35And I have to say, you know, I'm Jewish,
03:39but I love the Quran.
03:41And one of the things that the Quran says
03:43is it says that the body should always be in motion.
03:46And I love that.
03:47I mean, the Quran is so wise.
03:49So what I do when I'm here
03:51is I wake up every morning very early
03:54and I've memorized the crescent.
03:56And what I do is I go down to the crescent,
03:59I get onto the boardwalk,
04:01and I walk back and forth and back and forth
04:03and back and forth.
04:04I walk from one end to the other end,
04:07one end to the other end.
04:09And what I'm doing when I'm walking is I'm thinking.
04:13I'm thinking about decisions.
04:16I'm thinking about cases.
04:18I'm thinking about verdicts.
04:20I'm thinking about, you know,
04:22what is gonna be a just and fair and merciful decision.
04:26I'm thinking about all of these things
04:30as I'm walking.
04:30I don't wanna be still.
04:31If you're sedentary, you're not able to think as well.
04:34So the way that it works is I basically live off of my phone
04:38because my phone is my life.
04:40So what I do is Siri basically will call the people.
04:43We will read the cases that are due for that week.
04:47So there's 25 cases that are due by Wednesday of each week.
04:51We have to know those cases cold.
04:54You can't make a mistake.
04:56You can't miss anything.
04:58You can't not be on your game every single day
05:02because people only have one chance to appeal.
05:05And whatever we decide within that appeal
05:08is the end for that person.
05:10The general belief that people have,
05:12if you can't see, you can't be a judge.
05:14There's 800 judges that report up to your court.
05:18There's no way that a blind person
05:20can possibly oversee what 800 judges are doing
05:25and then make final decisions when you can't even see.
05:28How do you do it?
05:29So the way that it works is that ultimately,
05:33number one is that I would venture to say
05:36that a blind judge is a better judge than a sighted judge.
05:41I would make that argument.
05:42You know what?
05:43Isn't that the truth?
05:45Justice is blind.
05:46What is the greatest distraction?
05:48It's visual distraction.
05:50Blind people don't have visual distractions.
05:53If someone comes in front of you and you can't see them,
05:57you're not gonna prejudge them
05:58because you don't know what they look like.
06:00We are able to sense and understand people's spirits
06:04because we don't see them on their outer core.
06:07And if you don't see somebody on the outside,
06:10that means that you're focusing on basically their spirit
06:13or their soul, which basically allows for you
06:16to have a greater appreciation
06:18or a greater understanding of who they are.