[blindlaw] text of LSAC's letter to accompanynon-standard LSATadministration

Tue May 19 05:42:26 UTC 2009

the specific accommodations that I was referring to is the extra time 
factor. I actually took the LSAT about 35 years ago with a reader without 
extra time and did not do that badly.
Chuck
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "T. Joseph Carter" <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 1:16 AM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] text of LSAC's letter to accompanynon-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
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>>
>>
>>
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