Receives license: Diane Harms
Unique West Valley student catches eyes of her teachers
She's state's only blind court reporter
By Jason Baker
Diane Harms can't describe the fall colors in the trees that surround West Valley College. She has never seen the sun go down over the ocean or watched the waves break during a wind storm.
Blind since birth, Harms, 40, most likely will never experience a lot of things most people take for granted. But Harms possess skills the majority of people--sighted or otherwise--will never have. And it's those skills that make her extraordinary.
Harms, along with five other WVC students, recently received her California Certified Shorthand Reporter license. Rick Black, chief executive officer of the Court Reporter's Board in Sacramento, said the certification made Harms the only blind court reporter in the state and one of about three in the entire country.
"It's quite an accomplishment," Black said. "She deserves all the recognition we could possibly give her."
Harms said she first entered the WVC program when she was 19, but was not mature enough to handle the pressures of the program. A few years later, a more world-wise Harms returned to the college and resumed classes.
"I was going to be a scopist," she said, a position that entails editing and proofreading transcripts prepared by a court reporter, checking for mistranslations like misused homonyms, proper names or technical terms. "But I started thinking, 'You know, this is kind of fun. I think I'll go all the way for a court reporter license.' "
While most programs at West Valley require two years of study, the court reporting program is a specialized and requires four years of study.
Linda Lawson, head of the court reporting and related technologies program, said students must develop not only speed and accuracy in transcription but also must have knowledge in a broad range of subjects. The court reporting curriculum includes courses in medical and legal terminology along with classes in pharmacology and medical and legal ethics. "There's an increasing demand for court reporters. It's a tough program to get through. It takes a lot of determination," she said.
Harms said the legal courses required a lot of study, which meant more time away from practicing with her computer-aided transcription, or CAT, equipment.
All court reporters provide their own transcription equipment, including the reporter's stenotype machine, which can capture phonetic symbols on an internal memory unit. Harms' IBM-based system differs from that of other reporters' by allowing her to read back transcriptions translated onto a Braille strip at the bottom of the machine. Harms won her equipment, valued more than $14,000, in an essay contest sponsored by IBM and the California Community College foundation.
However, learning the skills in a classroom and passing the licensing test are altogether different challenges. The two-day test consisted of a written exam, which Harms took in Braille, and a skills test requiring participants to transcribe live courtroom testimony. "It's a lot of pressure," she said. "If you're not on that day, you can blow it."
Lawson said the average pass rate of students taking the exam is less than 50 percent and usually is closer to 25 percent. The test is given every six months, she said. Students must be 97.5 percent accurate in the documents they report during the exam. "It's kind of like having to perform a piano concerto perfectly," she said.
Lawson said that Harms' achievement was nothing short of amazing. "Diane has faced a lot of obstacles but she has a lot of optimism. The first time she took the test, she missed by six points. The state did not give her any concessions. They held her to the same standards." It took Harms nearly 13 years to finish the WVC program.
Lawson said the opportunities in the court reporting field are plentiful and that the role of court reporters continues to evolve. Court reporters continue to work within the legal community, serving as information managers in trials, capturing business depositions and proceedings and assisting millions of hearing-impaired persons through advanced captioning technology.
Harms is now interning with a court reporter in San Jose, learning the various departments and evaluating the different positions. "It's not that much different," she said. "The speed [of testimony] varies. Some of the people speak very slowly and some just speed right along."
Harms said her desire and determination to complete the program stands as proof that people can do anything if they are determined and persevere. With Gideon, her faithful yellow Labrador, a graduate of Guide Dogs for the Blind, Harms is ready to meet all obstacles.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
