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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>thank you nfb </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=JFreeh@nfb.org href="mailto:dandrews@visi.com>)">Freeh,Jessica (by
way of David Andrews <dandrews@visi.com>)</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=david.andrews@nfbnet.org
href="mailto:david.andrews@nfbnet.org">david.andrews@nfbnet.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 05, 2010 5:12
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Blind-international-students]
Law Schools Discriminate AgainstBlind Applicants</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=4 face="Helvetica, Helvetica"><B>FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE<BR><BR></FONT><FONT size=5
face="Helvetica, Helvetica"> <BR><BR></FONT><FONT
face="Helvetica, Helvetica">CONTACT:<BR><BR></B>Chris
Danielsen<BR><BR>Director of Public Relations<BR><BR>National Federation of
the Blind<BR><BR>(410) 659-9314, extension 2330<BR><BR>(410) 262-1281
(Cell)<BR><BR><A
href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</A><BR><BR> <BR><BR><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=center>
<H1><B>Law Schools Discriminate Against Blind
Applicants<BR><BR><BR><BR></B></H1></DIV>
<H2><B>National Federation of the Blind Files Complaints Against Nine Law
Schools</B></H2><FONT size=5
face="Helvetica, Helvetica"> <BR><BR></FONT><B>Baltimore, Maryland (May
5, 2010):</B> The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the nation’s oldest
and largest organization of blind people, announced today that it has filed
complaints with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights
Division, requesting investigations of nine prominent law schools for
violating the civil rights of blind and other print-disabled law school
applicants. The NFB filed the complaints because the law schools require
applicants who wish to have the convenience of applying online to use a
centralized Internet-based application process provided by the Law School
Admissions Council (LSAC) through its Web site (<A href="http://www.lsac.org/"
eudora="autourl">www.lsac.org</A>) that is inaccessible to blind law school
applicants. While sighted law school applicants can use the LSAC system
to submit multiple law school applications at once, blind students must seek
sighted assistance to use the LSAC system. Title III of the Americans
with Disabilities Act requires these law schools to offer equal access to
their programs and services. The nine law schools named in the
complaints are The University of Chicago Law School, Yeshiva University’s
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School,
University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, Washington and Lee University
School of Law, University of Miami School of Law, William Mitchell College of
Law, Gonzaga University School of Law, and Northeastern University School of
Law. The complaints ask the Justice Department to require these law
schools to suspend use of the LSAC application system until it is accessible
to blind and other print-disabled students and to require each law school to
provide the same application process in a format available to all students.
The NFB already has a lawsuit pending against the LSAC for violating
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />California law by
maintaining an inaccessible Web site.<BR><BR> <BR><BR>Blind people
access Web sites on computers equipped with screen access software that
converts what is on the screen into synthesized speech or Braille. The
keyboard is used instead of a mouse to navigate the Web site and click on
selected links or buttons. If a <BR><BR>Web site is improperly coded,
however, blind computer users cannot access or interact with the site.
The LSAC application process does not present information to screen access
software and thus requires blind users to resort to sighted
assistance. <BR><BR> <BR><BR>Dr. Marc Maurer, President of
the National Federation of the Blind, said: “The National Federation of the
Blind expects those who control admission to the practice of law to obey the
law. Forcing blind law school applicants to use a separate and
inherently unequal application process violates both the letter and the spirit
of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.
Accessibility standards for Web-based forms like those used in the Law School
Admissions Council’s application system have been in place for years and have
been successfully implemented by many other Web sites, so there is no reason
why the LSAC cannot make its application service available to blind law school
applicants. That is why we have asked the United States Department of
Justice to act swiftly and decisively to ensure that blind law school
applicants are treated the same as their sighted
peers.”<BR><BR> <BR><BR>The National Federation of the Blind is
represented in this matter by Daniel F. Goldstein and Mehgan Sidhu of the
Baltimore firm Brown, Goldstein, and Levy; Laurence W. Paradis, Anna Levine,
and Karla Gilbride of the Berkley firm Disability Rights Advocates; and Scott
C. LaBarre of the Denver firm LaBarre Law
Offices.<BR><BR> <BR><BR> <BR><BR>
<DIV align=center><B>###<BR><BR></B></DIV> <BR><BR> <BR><BR><B>About
the National Federation of the Blind<BR><BR></B>With more than 50,000 members,
the National Federation of the Blind is the largest and most influential
membership organization of blind people in the United States. The NFB
improves blind people’s lives through advocacy, education, research,
technology, and programs encouraging independence and self-confidence.
It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the
nation's blind. In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation
of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the
United States for the blind led by the blind. <BR><BR>
<P>
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