[blindlaw] text of LSAC's letter to accompany non-standard LSAT administration

Bill Spiry bspiry at comcast.net
Mon May 18 20:21:35 UTC 2009 

I've been watching this post closely as I will be taking the LSAT in June.
Frankly, concerns regarding what the LSAC communicates to the school
regarding test accommodations, I'd be much more concerned about attending
any program that would be biased against an applicant with a disability
based on the fact that he or she has received accommodation on the LSAT.
Such an inclination for discriminatory bias by a school would not bode well
for what you could expect as a student in that program and your chances for
success would be in question.  If you've got a need for accommodation to be
successful, don't try to hide that fact until you're already in the mix...
that is a pretty effective way to set yourself up to fail.  
   
As to one of the posters who suggest that asking for additional time to
complete the LSAT as an accommodation somehow equates to an admission that
you are less capable than others who are not blind...  is absolutely
preposterous.  Success is about outcomes and the quality of those outcomes,
not whether you can prove that you can meet some arbitrary time standard
designed only with sighted test takers in mind.  
Obviously we cannot expect to have unlimited time to accomplish a task in
the real world, there are deadlines and time related needs that we must
satisfy.  but most folks with a disability who are capable of functioning in
the real world also understand that there is more than one way to "skin a
cat" and that using the resources we need to level the playing field is part
of that.  We learn to play to our strengths and fight the battle on our
terms as much as possible.  I've learned that lesson well out in the real
professional world over the past 20 years.  The LSAT is one of those
battlefields that we have no choice but to face. Based on the practice and
training I've been going through of late on this, it's also pretty clear
that trying to survive that fight based on rules created with sighted
examinees in mind would be academic suicide.  We're not in this to earn some
bloody badge of courage for fighting the fight with our hands tied and with
a blindfold on, we're in this to apply the capabilities we know we must have
to successfully  achieve a law degree and function as a professional in the
real world.  

Blindness is different for everyone and we all got to where we are on
different paths with different approaches.  I agree that there are probably
plenty of blind people out there who did not get adequate training in the
skills of blindness and who are not ready to face the rigors of law school..
by my take that is not much different than all the non-disabled kids out
there who fall between the cracks educationally and are at least equally
unprepared for the real world.    That is another battle.  The point is that
just because a blind person hasn't learned Braille or some of the other "by
the book" skills of blindness, and has learned to use some other
accommodations and compensating skills to get the job done, it sure as hell
doesn't equate to failure... and having to take additional time for the LSAT
due to blindness or another disability sure as hell doesn't mean that person
is less capable of succeeding as a law student.  Use the accommodations for
the LSAT, don't try to hide that fact, and focus on succeeding.

Bill

----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of T. Joseph Carter
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 1:16 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] text of LSAC's letter to accompany non-standard
LSATadministration

I don't see that as entirely practical.

The test is visually biased and the stakes could not possibly be 
higher.  If you want to take a gamble like that, knowing that the 
test is designed for you to fail without the accommodation because it 
depends upon visual processing skills, you go right ahead.

One of the skills I think people entering college have often failed 
to learn is knowing what they can honestly accomplish.  Many believe 
they cannot do things that they can and will do.  Some believe they 
can do things they cannot.

I can already hear the response of, "How will you know until you 
try?"  My answer is that a test that determines whether or not you 
are deemed worthy of a particular career is not the time to be 
experimenting.  If you know you can do it with the accommodation, but 
don't know if you could do it without, take the accommodation for the 
LSAT.  It's an artificial environment with artificial rules and an 
artificial result.  Accommodations used therein have little bearing 
on the "real world".

Unless any of you have had major cases hinge upon how many gumballs 
fit into a given shaped container or the other silliness I've seen on 
practice exams.

Joseph


On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 08:03:24PM -0700, ckrugman at sbcglobal.net wrote:
> It would almost be better for a blind to take the test without the extra  
> time accommodations if it is at all possible.
> Chuck
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephanie Enyart" 
> <stephanie_enyart at yahoo.com>
> To: "'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 11:36 PM
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] text of LSAC's letter to accompany non-standard  
> LSATadministration
>
>
>> Hello all,
>> Since Haben asked about the type of communication that will accompany any
>> non-standard test (any test taken with extended time due to a disability)
>> here is a copy of what the LSAC sends with the score report to law  
>> schools:
>>
>> "Dear Colleague:
>> This candidate took a __fill in test date___ LSAT under nonstandard
timing
>> conditions in order to accommodate his or her disability. The nonstandard
>> test this candidate received was administered on or about the same test 
>> date
>> as the corresponding standard administration.
>> Because this candidate's score was earned under nonstandard timing
>> conditions, it is important to note that the degree of comparability of 
>> this
>> score to scores earned under standard conditions cannot be determined.
The
>> LSAC's Cautionary Policies Concerning LSAT Scores and Related Services
>> explain:
>> LSAC has no data to demonstrate that scores earned under accommodated
>> conditions have the same meaning as scores earned under standard  
>> conditions.
>> Because the LSAT has not been validated in its various accommodated
forms,
>> accommodated tests are identified as nonstandard, and an individual's  
>> scores
>> from accommodated tests are not averaged with scores from tests taken  
>> under
>> standard conditions. The fact that accommodations were granted for the  
>> LSAT
>> should not be dispositive evidence that accommodations should be granted
>> once a test taker becomes a student. The accommodation needed for a  
>> one-day
>> multiple choice test may be different from those needed for law school
>> course work and examinations."
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Haben Girma
>> Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 9:39 AM
>> To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] LSAT Accommodations?
>>
>>
>> Is there a fact sheet out there that reveals what percentage of a
>> university's student body is disabled?
>>
>> Haben
>>
>> James Pepper wrote:
>>> They probably do that, I know that one of thee Coolge entrance exams
does
>>> it, but I am not sure if it is the SAT or the ACT but they inform the
>>> schools eactly which devices were used to take the test.  I think it is
>> both
>>> of them.  This is how colleges can know who is disabled and who is not
>>> without actually asking the student if they are disabled or not.  It is
a
>>> great way to get around the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
>>> And this is good for colleges that do not have a high percentage of
>> students
>>> who are disabled because they will most certainly accept you once they
>>> realize you are disabled, to satisfy their requirements to not be
>> considered
>>> discriminatory.  But your chances of graduating from that situation 
>>> is not
>>> as good as a college that accepts the disabled on a regular basis.  Of
>>> course state schools are more likely to handle the disabled with
respect,
>>> since they are more in tune with the consequences of discriminiation. 
>>> But
>>> if you are competing with a lot of other disabled students to get into a
>>> college that is a good college for the blind, then you will probably be
>>> judged on your abilities based on being disabled and not the general
>>> population.  Because they will probably only admit a certain amount of
>>> students who are disabled as the disabled tend to cost the university a
>> lot
>>> more than non disabled.
>>>
>>> Since most people do not know they are doing this type of profiling,
they
>>> have gotten away with it since 1973.
>>>
>>> You all are lawyers, can you stop this nonsense because colleges accept
>> the
>>> blind and disabled in proportion to their numbers in the population, but
>>> they don't graduate them in any proportion to the numbers they accept.
>>>
>>> James Pepper
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> blindlaw mailing list
>>> blindlaw at nfbnet.org
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