SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Passing the Bar exam is no easy task for any aspiring attorney. When you add the additional challenge of losing your eyesight into the equation, overcoming the odds is nothing short of remarkable.
But, as Roderick Thomas loves to say, while he lost his sight, he never lost his vision. After nine tries, Thomas finally passed the Florida Bar exam at the age of 49.
What You Need To Know
- Roderick Thomas lost his vision to congenital glaucoma in his last year of law school at Florida A&M
- His impairment has led to challenges over the years, later losing cars and foreclosing on homes
- For the past six years, Thomas has worked in a call center for nonprofit Lighthouse of Central Florida
- After nine tries, Thomas passed the Florida Bar exam and is clerking for a Seminole judge while he seeks employment as an attorney
“I just knew that my time and my season was going to come, never a point in my life if I was going to pass the Bar (exam). Just a point of when,” he said. “The only way I got here was trusting in God, believing in myself, and I did the work.”
Due to congenital glaucoma, Thomas lost his vision during the last year of law school. Years of struggling with vision loss led to losing cars and foreclosing on homes.
Yet, in 2019 Thomas managed to graduate from FAMU Law School, determined to better his own life and that of his family.
He began working at a call center for nonprofit Lighthouse of Central Florida, which accommodated his vision loss and also supported his studies for the Bar exam.
“They’ve always been behind me, in some shape, form or fashion — whether it’s studying for the Bar, or giving me a room to study,” he said.
And for the past few years, Thomas toiled away, taking the Bar exam multiple times but never passing — until this fall.
He’s now learning about the criminal justice system by clerking for Seminole County Court Judge James DeKleva, who he met at a Christmas party several years ago. Conversations between the two about faith and family solidified the connection.
“I was impressed and inspired by what he’s accomplished. He was able to finish law school. The Bar is very challenging for anybody, and Rod was able to overcome that,” DeKleva said. “I don’t see his visual impairment as something that’s going to hold him back, quite honestly. He’s driven to practice law. He actually wants to be a trial lawyer.”
Thomas now faces a new hurdle — getting a job as an attorney. He said that he is thankful for those like DeKleva who have believed in him, seeing past what others could be blinded by and focusing on what the now-grandfather is capable of in the future.
“No one gets to this point in life by themselves. The only way I got here was trusting in God, believing in myself, and I did the work,” Thomas said. “How bad do you want it? You’ve got to want it bad. Sure, I have obstacles I’ve had to overcome, but I’m just as good as any attorney in this world.”