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Haben Girma

@habengirma

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Author of Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law. Audiobook voiced by me. Travel & advocacy stories. Let’s make our world accessible 💚

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Stepping into the home of Louis Braille in Coupvray @villedecoupvray , France felt like a literary pilgrimage. Exploring his early inventions to help blind people read and write filled me with gratitude and admiration. If you are a reader, a writer, or an admirer of innovators I highly recommend visiting this museum near Paris.

Thank you to the Musée Louis Braille and the city of Coupvray, especially Mayor Thierry Cerri, for their wonderful welcome during the Braille Bicentennial. This video also shares their remarkable gift, allowing me to carry the museum with me.

Descriptive Transcript:

Haben Girma sits at a picnic table with four small white, cylindrical containers. Their colorful lids (yellow, blue, green, and green) have a word written in print on top and Braille along the side. Behind her stand eucalyptus trees and scattered logs in a California park.

Haben: I can’t see videos, so how do I anchor memories from my travels? The Louis Braille Museum has a brilliant solution! Louis Braille invented the tactile reading system named after him: “brayl” in English and “bry” in French.

Photo: A portrait of a man with light skin, short reddish-brown wavy hair, and a serene expression with his eyes closed. He wears a dark, formal coat over a high-collared top with buttons down the front.

Haben: His house in Coupvray, France is now the Louis Braille Museum. The museum has a gorgeous model of the house that you can open up to feel the interior layout. All the rooms have Braille labels and you can feel…the spiral staircase!

The video shows a large model of a three-story wooden house. The outside walls are modest. The hands of museum guide Stéphane Mary lift up the gabled roof, then the front and back walls. Haben explores its design. The compact rooms have Braille labels, and one on the lowest level says cave, meaning cellar in French. A narrow spiral staircase winds up from the ground floor to the floor above that (second floor), and then up to one wing of the attic. The other wing of the attic requires a ladder. Louis slept in the attic.

Transcript continues in comments.

#BrailleFestival #LouisBraille by @habengirma

No one wanted to hire me when I was a Deafblind student. As my understanding of ableism grew, I learned how to transform that painful job hunt into stories that deliver wisdom, build connection, and even spark laughter.

“Want the rest of the Alaska story and more adventures? It’s in my book Haben by Haben Girma — available in print, ebook, and audiobook (narrated by me).

This clip is from my keynote at the 2025 SHRM Linkage Institute. Thank you, Linkage, for inviting me to guide HR leaders in real workplace change. When organizations invest in accessibility, they become stronger, more resilient, and more innovative.

Transcript in comments.

#KeynoteSpeaker #PublicSpeaker #PublicSpeaking #LinkageInstitute #JobSearch #HR #SHRM by @habengirma

France made me a Knight, and I made France a promise. I may have a guide dog instead of a horse and a keyboard instead of a sword, but I pledge to champion Braille across the globe. Critics argue Braille doesn’t belong in our modern world, so in my acceptance speech I connect the dots. France’s celebration of Braille gives me hope that others will do the same.

Join me in calling on every community to advocate for Braille.

This video is an excerpt. For the full video, go to my website site or YouTube channel (link in bio).

The video begins with French Consul General Valérie Brisset pinning the insignia of the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters onto Haben Girma’s dress. Haben wears a light-colored sleeveless dress with a textured fabric that catches the light with a soft shimmer. Her fingers read from a Braille computer on a table. Valérie wears a flowing dress with a floral pattern. Behind them, part of the French flag is visible above the room’s wood paneling and stone fireplace.

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#France #Knight #LouisBraille by @habengirma

Turns out even my typing has an Aussie accent 😂

Catching up with Haben Girma in the USA 📍 put my keyboard skills to the test. She reads my typed words in Braille in real time and spotted my Australian spelling straightaway!

We chatted about travel, technology and breaking down barriers.

“Deafblindness is not my biggest barrier. My biggest barrier is ableism.”

#WheelAroundTheWorld #HabenGirma #AccessibleTravel by @habengirma

I just KNOW these people live to regret firing THE icon herself, @HabenGirma! Getting to spend time with Haben is always a pleasure. She’s smart, funny, kind, and full of good stories... what more could you want? You can listen to our full conversation now on the What It’s Really Like podcast on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and more! by @habengirma

Now THIS is an episode of the What It’s Really Like podcast that you don’t want to miss! I sat down with the delightfully witty, smart, and insightful @HabenGirma to hear about her life growing up as a Deafblind woman. From navigating friendships, to graduating from Harvard Law School, traveling the world with a guide dog, we get into all of it and so much more! The full conversation is out now everywhere you listen to podcasts - Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, +++! by @habengirma

Tactile maps for bathrooms spark amusement, curiosity, and appreciation. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport @mspairport is the first US airport to install tactile maps by every restroom. Which airport should be next?

Descriptive Transcript:

Haben Girma and her German Shepherd Seeing Eye dog Mylo stand beside a wall-mounted Pet Relief sign and map. She speaks with a humorous tone.

Haben: Exploring bathrooms is the worst! I think a lot of blind people will agree with me on that.

The video pans around a room with artificial turf in one alcove, a push button beside a sign saying “PLEASE dispose of your animal’s waste. Simply push this button prior to exiting,” a waste-bag dispenser with instructional pictograms, a cute photograph of a Rottweiler lounging on grass beside a river, and a soap dispenser beside a sink.

Haben (voiceover): So I found a tactile map for the pet relief area at this airport. There are ones for the humans as well!

Close-up of Haben’s hand reading the sign outside the pet relief area. The top part provides a key for the map in Braille and raised print: a dotted line means path, a square means sink/trash, a circle means waste bags/flush button, and wavy lines means turf. The map has a star at the entrance that reads, “You are here.” A dotted path forms a T, with one end of the top of the T by the square (sink/trash) and the other end by the circle (waste bags and flush button). The circle is also right next to a large wavy area (turf).

Haben (voiceover): But this is the first time I’ve encountered a tactile map for the pet relief area. And as someone traveling with a guide dog, it’s a cool way to reduce the stress for travelers.

Mylo strides down a large airport corridor as Haben holds his harness handle in one hand and rolls a suitcase with the other. Mylo confidently guides around busy travelers and luggage as they continue on their way. by @habengirma

Grow your accessibility skills with this new book full of great wisdom for all of us striving to make our world better. Find Digital Accessibility Ethics through your library or through AccessibilityEthics.org.

Descriptive Transcript:

Haben Girma, a woman with medium-dark skin, dancing hazel eyes, and long dark hair, holds up a book. She’s sitting in a room with flowers and a shelf displaying bowls and framed art in the background.

Haben: I learned a lot, and you will learn a lot! Digital Accessibility Ethics: Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech.

Photo: The book cover has arcs of yellow, orange, blue, turquoise, pink, and purple. The lower half features stylized figures, circles, and buildings. Text reads, “Digital Accessibility Ethics: Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech, edited by Lainey Feingold, Reginé Gilbert, and Chancey Fleet.”

Haben: 39 authors from around the world came together to provide chapters for this book. I’m one of the authors with a chapter in this book, and beside me is Lainey Feingold who has two chapters in the book. And she’s also one of the editors.

Lainey Feingold, @lflegalaccessibility a woman with shoulder-length gray hair, light skin, and glasses with colorful frames, sits in a chair inside the same room.

Lainey: Thank you, Haben. Our offering in this book is a new strategy to help advance disability inclusion in all parts of tech. That strategy is the Digital Accessibility Ethics Framework. It’s values-driven. It’s actionable. It encourages all of us to take the actions and ask the questions to make sure disabled people aren’t excluded from tech. We have chapters on gaming and the importance of accessibility for emergency preparedness. Publishing. I wrote a few things on the law, so I’m very excited that it’s here.

Haben holds up the book.

Haben: You can find the book as paperback or ebook. Or your libraries! Ask your libraries to find the book.

#DigitalAccessibilityEthics #a11y by @habengirma

Big tech tried to silence my friend Timnit Gebru, and it backfired spectacularly. When she served as co-lead of Google’s Ethical AI team and raised concerns about bias in large language models, Google fired her. She continued speaking up, and TIME named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She now serves as the Executive Director of the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), helping communities most at risk of facing harms from AI.

Her new memoir Deep Unlearning comes out February 16, 2027. I read an early accessible copy and loved it! I asked her to sign a print copy so I could impress my parents — we’re all big fans of Timnit!

Preorder your copy of Deep Unlearning through the link in @dr.timnitgebru’s bio. Help her reach the bestseller lists so more people find her book and learn from her story.

Descriptive Transcript

Timnit Gebru smiles as she types on a keyboard and Haben Girma reads her words on a Braille computer. They’re sitting at an outdoor cafe. A festive yellow drink and a plate of Brussels sprouts are on the table.

Haben (voiceover): Big tech tried to silence her and that backfired!

She holds up a copy of the book, and then gives it to Timnit.

Haben (voiceover): Deep Unlearning is the story of Timnit Gebru. Her journey from Ethiopia to Silicon Valley, and learning to speak up for the things that are important. Technology should be designed for all of us, for all of our different bodies, minds, languages.

Timnit writes inside the book with a pen. Then she types on the keyboard to Haben, and Haben smiles and laughs in response.

Haben (voiceover): She is courageous! She is brilliant! She is so generous! I can’t believe she gave me an early copy of her book and signed it!

Transcript continues in comments.

#AIEthics #ResponsibleAI #DeepUnlearning by @habengirma

The Obama Presidential Center has an impressive array of tactile exhibits! Exploring the Chicago @obamafoundation campus fills me with hope. May more cultural centers offer touch tours for blind visitors and all of us who learn through our hands.

Descriptive Transcript

The tactile model of the Obama Presidential Center covers a large table. A park surrounds a cream-colored tower, its four sides gently curving, angling into sharp corners, and forming deep recesses, giving it a sculptural appearance. Haben Girma stands beside the table studying the tower with her fingers.

Haben: Touch democracy at the Obama Presidential Center.

Hundreds of colorful buttons line a curved wall. Along the wall runs a table that has buttons enlarged so that their raised text and images are easier to feel. Each one has a Braille sign, and Haben is reading the Braille.

Haben: Buttons made for the 2008 campaign. This one says, “I’m an Obama kid!”

She reads another sign with print and Braille.

Haben: Legislative branch, U.S. Capitol. Oh, wow! This is very cool! So we have a tactile model of it, of the building.

The exhibit also has models of the Supreme Court and White House.

Next, she reads a sign near a display showing mannequins wearing dresses.

Haben: Fabric swatches. Explore the materials fashion designers used to create some of Mrs. Obama’s iconic outfits. And there are three different textures here.

She touches the swatches beside the sign: Isabel Toledo’s yellow wool lace reminiscent of delicate Braille, Jason Wu’s red silk chiffon with a smoothness that delights the fingers, and Versace’s rose-gold, stunningly light and flexible chainmail.

Transcript continued in comments.

@versace @jasonwu

#ObamaPresidentialCenter #UniversalDesign by @habengirma

Miss World Africa 2026 is Snit Habteab Tewoldemedhin @snitt_misseritrea, a Montessori educator working to expand opportunities for children with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Congratulations, Snit!

One way to make beauty content more accessible is to provide visual descriptions so blind people have access to visual information. The level of detail depends on context. I don’t usually describe outfits, but beauty and fashion conversations are exactly the kind of context where that level of visual detail matters.

Descriptive Transcript

Haben Girma, a woman in her thirties with medium-brown skin, dancing hazel eyes, and long dark brown hair, stands on a wooden deck speaking to the camera. She wears a classic Levi’s blue denim jacket over a soft white dress. The neckline and front of the Eritrean dress have blue geometric embroidery accented with red and yellow. A small black microphone is clipped at the center of her neckline, and she wears gold teardrop earrings. Behind her is a lush green hillside. The top of Seeing Eye dog Mylo’s head and back are visible at various parts of the video, and at one point a grey rabbit hops down the hill.

Haben: I am blind and can’t see visual beauty, but the stories coming out of Miss World have been so moving! For the first time, an Eritrean woman competed in Miss World and her community showed up every day, helping her reach the position of Miss World Africa. Snit, huge congratulations! I love that you’re using your platform to advocate for children with disabilities. by @habengirma

If it helps one person, build it. One day those specialized devices may benefit millions. But even if a design only benefits a few people, that’s a good enough reason to support it.

This is an excerpt from a talk I delivered at the Parsons School of Design@parsonsschoolofdesign. You can find the full talk on YouTube.

Video description: Haben Girma, in a short-sleeved red dress and a black shawl with red accents, speaks on stage.

Haben: Many things we love in our world started out as medicalized, separate, special things for disabled people. For example, Jacuzzis started out as medical devices, and it was actually a child in the Jacuzzi family that had a disability, and the Jacuzzi family made the Jacuzzi for their child. And they discovered, “Wait a minute, lots of other people also want these Jacuzzis.” So they started selling them. They became super popular, and now it’s not even associated with disability anymore. It’s just something that’s associated with relaxation and joy.

There are a lot of stories like this where something starts out medicalized and then becomes mainstream. So if you find yourself tempted to think, “Oh, that’s for doctors, that’s for medical facilities.” Pause and reflect: is that ableism? by @habengirma