Dream remains in sight for aspiring blind lawyer

Pan Mingjing was excited when he finally got his long-awaited legal qualification certificate.

"I have been waiting for this moment for over four years," the 35-year-old visually impaired lawyer said.

"If disabled people have dreams, they should pursue them bravely and boldly," he told media present at the awarding ceremony at a public legal services center in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, in mid-May. "They should not give them up."

Dressed professionally in a white shirt and black trousers and carrying a white cane, Pan waited patiently for his data review, facial recognition, signature confirmation and other procedures to be completed before he was given his certificate.

He is now the first blind person to pass the national legal vocational exam and be granted a professional law qualification certificate in Guangzhou.

Pan lost his sight after a critical illness when he was 4 years old. As a youth, he learned massage in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and moved to Guangzhou in 2003.

He began to prepare for the legal exam at the end of 2017 and listened to courses, played at double speed on his mobile phone, for three to four hours a day between giving massages.

Local bar associations and volunteers helped Pan gather learning materials and register online for the exam. The Sun Yat-Sen Library helped with practice tests twice a week to improve his speed, and the Guangzhou Bureau of Justice also made it as easy as possible for him to take the exam, arranging for him to do so in a separate location with more convenient transportation links and barrier-free access.

To improve test efficiency, invigilators who were good listeners, skilled in standard Chinese pronunciation and familiar with legal terminology were selected to oversee the exam.

Pan said his career as a lawyer had officially begun after he got his certificate.

He plans to become a public welfare lawyer and hopes to offer legal services to people with disabilities by using his knowledge of the law to protect their rights and help them integrate into society.

Pan started working as an apprentice at the Guangzhou Kingpound Law Firm earlier this year. He is entitled to apply for a full-time certificate as a lawyer to represent clients in court after a year as an intern.

A member of the public legal services center said that his story has touched many people and inspired many of the disabled, particularly those with visual impairments. The staff warmly congratulated him on his qualification as a lawyer.

Cai Fei, deputy director of Guangzhou Kingpound, said it was the first time he'd heard of a blind person passing the national legal vocational exam.

"Pan's story is inspirational, so we are willing to provide him a platform and an opportunity and to act as his instructors," Cai said. "I am confident he will get his qualification certificate and become a full-time lawyer in two years' time, and we hope to train him in labor law."

Pan admitted that his road ahead may not be smooth.

"Currently, there are not many visually impaired people engaged as lawyers in China, so there is limited experience for me to draw on or use for reference, which presents a challenge to my development," he said.

Currently, he mostly studies labor law with his instructors, learning about labor disputes and arbitration, but he has also begun to assist other lawyers in mediating labor disputes, analyzing cases, familiarizing himself with business and answering questions on the firm's legal hotline.

"The central government now attaches great importance to the education, employment, rehabilitation and social life of the disabled, so work related to the disabled will become an important part of the rule of law," Pan said.

According to statistics, there are more than 80 million disabled people in China, including 10 million who are visually impaired.

"As a lawyer, I will certainly use my knowledge to help protect the rights and interests of the disabled," he added.