Community Reflections: National Disability Awareness Month, Reflection 2

Fast forward four years, I walk into the Cuyahoga County Court of Appeals for an interview in front of an all-white, three-judge panel. One of the judges mouthed to her colleague, “I didn’t know this person was black.”  I said to myself, “And so it begins.” I was not surprised by the judge’s comment, as the name on my resume read “T. Dolman” and not “Tawana” Dolman. Upon sitting down, this same judge began the interview by asking me a few questions about myself. I said, “Well, as you can see, I am black.” The interview went very well, and I was offered the position. However, I turned it down and accepted a position in the office of then Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Stephanie Tubbs Jones, which changed the trajectory of my life.  And at the age of 21, I had spent the last seven years as the office manager of my family’s business while also working as a legal secretary in a law office for five years.

 

Walking into a room of people you don’t know can be overwhelming by itself. Being a black woman, walking into that same room, with people that don’t look like you and not being able to hear what is being said, takes it to a whole “nutha” level. Over the years, I have learned to read this room, literally. I believe body language and facial expressions are the most genuine forms of communication, as they  give you the ability to show emotion and not explain it away. With the mask mandates, I have also begun to focus my attention on eye movement and placement, as people are now communicating with their eyes. 

 

You never know a person’s life journey. And I am sure that judge had no idea that I dropped Spanish in high school to take sign language and learned how to read lips in the process!!