[blindlaw] Federal Judge Orders the National Conference of Bar Examine...

[AZNOR99 at aol.com]

Examiners to Provide Individualized Testing Accommodations to Blind Law  
School Graduate



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:   
Chris Danielsen, National Federation of the Blind, 
(410) 659-9314,  ext. 2330  
Scott LaBarre, LaBarre Law Offices, P.C., (303)  
504-5979  
Daniel Goldstein, Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP,  
(410) 962-1030  

Anna Levine, Disability Rights 
Advocates,  (510) 665-8644  



Federal Judge Orders the National  

Conference of Bar Examiners 
to Provide Individualized Testing  Accommodations 


to Blind Law School Graduate

San  

Francisco, California (February 5, 2010): A 

federal court has  ruled that the National Conference of Bar Examiners 
(NCBE) 

will cause  a blind law school graduate irreparable harm unless it provides 
her  

the technology-based testing accommodations she needs to take two  exams 
required 

to become a member of the State Bar of  California.  The court issued its 
ruling in an order 

granting the  law school graduate’s motion for preliminary injunction on 

Thursday,  February 4, 2010.  The 

court’s ruling allows the plaintiff,  Stephanie Enyart, to take the 
February 2010 

Multistate Bar Examination  (MBE) and March 2010 Multistate Professional 

Responsibility  Examination (MPRE) on a laptop computer equipped with the 

assistive  technology software Ms. Enyart relies upon for screen reading 
(JAWS)  

and screen magnification (ZoomText). 

Dr. Marc Maurer,  President of the National Federation 

of the Blind, said: “The National  Federation of the Blind is extremely 
pleased 

with the ruling in this  case.  Law 

and equity simply do not permit the NCBE to dictate a  one-size-fits-all 
solution 

for all bar candidates with  disabilities.  We hope that this ruling will 
cause the 

NCBE to  think long and hard before it denies the requested accommodations 
of  

applicants to take its examinations.” 

The plaintiff,  

Stephanie Enyart, said: “A little 

over a year ago I sent my  first request for accommodations on the March 
2009 

MPRE, and tonight I  can go to sleep knowing when and how I can effectively 
take 

the exams  to fulfill my dreams.” 

Anna Levine of Disability Rights  

Advocates, an attorney representing the plaintiff, said: "I  

hope that our hard-fought victory here will send a message to testing  

organizations that they need to comply with the ADA and provide each  
individual test taker with 

a disability the accommodations that he or  she needs to demonstrate his or 
her 

actual knowledge, skills, and  abilities."  

The suit was filed on November 3, 2009, due to the  

NCBE’s refusal, on multiple occasions during the past year, to allow  Ms. 
Enyart 

to use the same technology on the MBE and MPRE that she has  used on 
university 

and law school exams and in various jobs and  internships.  The suit 
charged that the NCBE violated 

the  Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California’s Unruh Civil 
Rights Act  by denying 

accommodations on the MBE and the MPRE.   



NCBE had argued that it fulfilled its legal  

obligations to Ms. Enyart by offering alternative accommodations, such  as 
a 

human reader, notwithstanding evidence that these alternatives  did not, in 
fact, 

accommodate Ms. Enyart’s disability.  In  rejecting NCBE’s argument, the 
court’s 

ruling paves the way for other  individuals prevented from pursuing their 

professional dreams by high  stakes testing providers who take a rigid 
approach 

to disability  accommodations.  



The plaintiff is represented with the  support of the 

National Federation of the Blind by LaBarre Law  Offices, P.C., in Denver, 
Colorado, and by 

Brown, Goldstein &  Levy, LLP, in Baltimore, Maryland.  The plaintiff is 
further represented  by 

Disability Rights Advocates, a nonprofit law center that  specializes in 
civil 

rights cases on behalf of persons with  disabilities, based in Berkeley, 
California.   


###

About the National Federation of 

the  Blind

With more than 50,000 members, the 

National Federation of  the Blind (NFB) 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.